The Schools Attuned Program has really taken flight at Kitty Hawk Elementary School in Dare County, North Carolina, where more than three-quarters of the faculty completed the program over the past two years.

“Our school is already an Honor School of Excellence—the highest performance designation in North Carolina—but we’re always on the lookout for new professional development opportunities that challenge us to continue to improve the academic success of our students,” says Dr. Bruce Shepard, assistant principal, who completed the program himself with the school’s first group two years ago.

“As a school, we already felt strongly about the importance of building on someone’s strengths rather than focusing on their weaknesses. So when we found out about All Kinds of Minds, we immediately could see that the Schools Attuned Program could work very well for us. Our goal is to have 100 percent of our staff trained in Schools Attuned, and to use it in every program element that we have in the school.”

Dr. Shepard gratefully notes that the training of all of these educators would not be possible without the foresight of North Carolina legislators who have allocated funds for North Carolina public school teachers to participate in the Schools Attuned Program since 1998.

With the help of Robin Ventura, a regional coordinator for the Schools Attuned Program, North Carolina, Dr. Shepard and his colleagues at Kitty Hawk Elementary have implemented key strategies in K-5 classrooms and in Student Assistance Teams for kids with special difficulties. They have introduced a Learning About Learning lesson for students. Staff development continues to focus on implementing Schools Attuned Program concepts, and efforts are underway to help parents understand the All Kinds of Minds approach. Dr. Shepard and his colleagues have even appeared on the school district’s TV channel to explain the All Kinds of Minds philosophy and the program implementation at the school level as a preview to Dr. Mel Levine’s second visit to Dare County.

“The faculty has regular discussions where we share strategies with each other and find solutions, and that keeps the excitement going,” Dr. Shepard explains.