Like many bullies, JP Butler started out as the one who was bullied. What’s different about JP’s story is that his next transformation took him from bully to a bullying prevention leader and activist. Dedicated to taking a stand against bullying while instilling leadership qualities in youth and their role models, Quantum Leadership was born. Below is an interview with JP which I believe you will find inspiring and motivating.

What is Quantum Leadership?

Quantum Leadership is a nonprofit organization that seeks to lower the prevalence of bullying through leadership development. We provide leadership trainings for youth and adults, professional development workshops, parent education seminars, and other presentations that all revolve around empowering communities to end bullying.

Why combine youth leadership with bullying prevention?

I found that the common topics that are covered in bullying prevention programs (such as empathy, awareness, connection, and emotional regulation) were all topics that were just as applicable in leadership programs. I asked myself, “Why don’t we combine the power of youth leadership with the potential to approach bullying prevention in a way that had never been done?”

Why do you see a need for schools to teach leadership and bully prevention?

We are all leaders in one way or another. At the most basic level, we are leaders of our own lives. We must make decisions, reflect on our actions, strive to become a better person each day, and do what we can to make the world a better place. This is in alignment with schools’ objective of teaching and preparing contributing members of society. I see leadership and bullying prevention as a crucial social-emotional component of traditional academic learning.

Do you have a history with bullying?

I was a victim of bullying at the tender age of 11. The offense caused me to become a bully myself, picking on students who were easy targets. I finally recognized the wrong I was doing after my primary target finally stood up to me and pointed out the harm and pain I was causing. As I became older, I realized that so many students (19.6 percent of high school students in the United States, as a matter of fact, according to the CDC) experience some form of bullying each year.

How did you start Quantum Leadership?

After working for years as a youth program coordinator, I wanted to learn more effective ways to help adolescents. I enrolled in the couples and family counseling master’s program at the University of Colorado, Denver, and simultaneously began my career as an independent motivational speaker, focusing specifically on bullying. After two semesters of my master’s program, my passions took a new course and I changed my master’s degree to educational psychology with an emphasis in human development. I spent my spare time outside of class writing a leadership training curriculum that would eventually become the cornerstone of a new nonprofit.

How is Quantum Leadership different than other bully prevention/leadership initiatives?

A combination of our experience, creativity, innovation, and focus on leadership sets us apart. Between myself, our board of directors, and our volunteers, we have over 50-plus years of youth programming and leadership development experience. We work with youth to develop and redevelop our curriculum so it is up-to-date with what students are experiencing. Finally, we actively engage all members of the community to be a leader and to stand up against this social issue.

When did your organization take off? How is it funded?

Quantum Leadership incorporated in 2011, and every training we have done up to this point has been covered, in-kind, by my board of directors and my parents. They have been such a loving and supportive network and have continued to fuel and support my ambitions. Because of our future vision, Quantum Leadership is looking to raise $100,000 before the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

What’s in store for the 2015-2016 school year?

My goals for the 2015-2016 school year are: (1) serve 10,000 students through assemblies and keynotes to increase awareness about what students can do about bullying, (2) train over 1,000 students to lower the prevalence of bullying through student leadership, and (3) train over 500 school staff to recognize the signs of bullying and effectively intervene. In order to do that, we need to partner with community members across the nation to raise these funds so we can continue our work and see this vision through.

What do you hope to accomplish with Quantum Leadership in the next decade?

Quantum Leadership is already on the way to becoming a national organization. Many of my volunteers are close friends who work in education in several different cities. We want to diversify the national resources available to schools and communities through our knowledge and experience. Therefore, I truly do hope that everyone will see Quantum Leadership as a leader in bullying prevention and leadership development.

What’s one thing you wish everyone knew about bullying?

Bullying behaviors are not a part of normal youth development (or adult development, for that matter). When someone is bullying a victim, there is a power imbalance and the bully is taking advantage of that. So you have three choices: (1) victim-blame the student who “can’t stand up for themselves” and hope they figure it out, (2) shame the bully and try to remove the power imbalance, or (3) equalize the power imbalance. Quantum Leadership opts for the third option through self- and others-awareness training, leadership development, and empathy training.

How can someone learn more about Quantum Leadership?

Visit Quantum Leadership’s Website at: http://www.quantumleadershipinc.org and our youth website at http://www.qleaders.org.

Through JP’s vision, persistence, stamina, and his own quantum leadership, more students and adults are better equipped to recognize the patterns of bullying and prevent future offenses through dialogue, strength, and understanding. The more we can achieve this locally and throughout our own country, the more we will have peace, understanding, and respect throughout our world.

The above article was originally posted as part of my blog series on the Huffington Post where I share stories of young entrepreneurs making a difference. Read more at (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-j-carter/) 

This spring we’re definitely not sitting still at LifeBound. In the next few months we have many new events, trainings, blogs, and more that will reach communities who are dedicated to improving learning opportunities for students, teachers, and professionals. One initiative we’re supporting all summer long is to get more students involved in productive learning activities over the summer months.

Research shows all young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. That’s why LifeBound is offering summer enrichment workshops at Lighthouse Writers Workshop for students in middle school through high school that foster self-awareness, critical thinking, and practical know-how. You can find out more about our week-long workshops for teens at our website. We are also encouraging students to read over the summer with our book display at the Tattered Cover Book Store on Colfax.

Coming up on Wednesday, April 10th, I’m excited to give a keynote to faculty at University of Oklahoma’s First-Year Experience Program. If you’re in the area, the event is free and open to the public. You can find out more at the event website.

Also coming up this month, is our three-day academic coaching training. Academic Coaching is an ongoing partnership to help students produce fulfilling results in their lives. Through the process of coaching, students deepen their learning, take responsibility for their actions, improve their effectiveness, and consciously create their outcomes in life. We conduct trainings for professors, teachers, administrators, and counselors. LifeBound Academic Coaching trainings are available year-round. Learn about our lead trainers, check out upcoming dates, and register for your next coaching session at our coaching website www.lifeboundcoaching.com.

Last but not least, I am now blogging for the Huffington Post under “Impact”.  For the next two months, I will be focusing on remedial students, posting every Tuesday.  Check out my most read article, “Why Aren’t Low Income Students Succeeding in School?” You’ll see some of the best insights include what readers posted in response.  Below is a sample of some of the topics I will be exploring in the future. Let me know in the comments if you have any additional ideas for blog topics.

• “From Trailer Park to Corporate Executive: One Woman’s Path to Personal and Professional Success”
• “Where Are We Struggling With Literacy?”
• “Why And How Are We Struggling with Innumeracy?”
• “Why And How Are We Struggling with Thinking Skills?”
• “Why And How Are We Struggling with Communication?”
• “Pipeline Success for Developmental Students.”

I look forward to sharing more about this eventful season. For inquiries about academic coaching, speaking engagements, summer reading, and anything else, call the LifeBound office at 1-877-737-8510.

How much do you know about how the brain works?

Studies show that children don’t have a solid understanding of how the brain functions, which isn’t surprisingly linked to the lack of education they receive in early childhood neuroscience. New research shows elementary students commonly believe the brain is like a container that holds memories and facts, according to Annie Murphy Paul’s article “What Kids Should Know About Their Own Brains.” Consider the limitations students might start putting on themselves at an early age when they envision the brain as having the same finite characteristics of a container. They might set unnecessary parameters on knowledge, knowing that a container acts as a holding tank and that it runs out of room.  This runs counter to the brains’ nearly infinite and plastic capacity.

Past and current studies on neuroscience and early education suggest teaching children about brain functioning as early as first-grade could make a significant impact on how students feel about their own learning. For example, Paul, in the article, says new research shows giving first-grade students only one  20-minute lesson on neuroscience helped their understanding of how their brain works significantly. A small lesson that could make a big impact. Also, Carol Dweck’s well-known studies show teaching students about their brain helps them understand the value in making mistakes, when it’s followed by the understanding that persistence leads to mastery and that effort pays off.

At the core of these findings is a familiar logic that we use in LifeBound’s books and LifeBound’s Academic Coaches training. In the recent neuroscience studies cited above, when students learned even a little bit about how their brains worked, the limits they set for themselves collapsed. They learned their brains are flexible and capable of holding more than they have the ability to comprehend. They learned experiences, good or bad, help us grow so that they can be resilient and persistent. We train academic coaches to use powerful questions to help students develop these qualities and find their own answers. Giving students the answers (instead of letting them arrive at their own) reinforces the parameters on their knowledge they are apt to set up themselves. When students learn how to find their own answers, they build the experience they need to solve their own problems in school, career, and life.  They also learn that they have an impact on their own insights, ability to relieve stress and provide calm and measured solutions among others–qualities that can help among bullies and other challenging forces.

Learn more about LifeBound’s academic coaches training and how you can coach your students using powerful questions to develop accountability, resilience, and persistance so that they can help themselves and others. LifeBound’s book, CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING, provides many role models of people of who have stretched the capacity of both their brains and their talents.

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Sources:

“What Kids Should Know About Their Own Brains,” by Annie Murphy Paul. 5 April 2012. Mind/Shift. Accessed on 6 April 2012. http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/04/what-kids-should-know-about-their-own-brains/

We have many dreams for today’s students. We want to ensure they get an education that prepares them for a successful career. We want them to have all the latest technology. We want them to use technology to become a new generation of innovators and creative thinkers. We want them to have the best teachers. We want a system that values learning, not memorization.

Many people have many different ideas for how education can be reformed, but they all have one thing in common: they they all require funding.

In Florida, eleven percent of households with students in K12 education do not have Internet access, according to the article “Many Low-Income Students Struggle with Lack of Internet at Home.” A lack of Internet, whether due to a lack of devices, access or both, is one element that continues to drive a wedge in the achievement gap. Low-income students aren’t given the same benefits of their more affluent peers when they are required to do online assignments, putting them at a disadvantage in their education and future career.

Like many school districts around the country, school districts in Florida are pushing to have digital textbooks for all students by 2015. In fact, the Obama administration recently announced they are pushing for every student in the U.S. to have an e-textbook by 2017. However, getting devices in the hands of all 21st century students is only part of the equation. “The digital divide is not because students lack devices,” said Ocoee Middle School Principal Sharyn Gabriel, in the article. “The digital divide stems from the lack of Wi-Fi.”

Whose responsibility is it to close the divide?  AT&T announced this week that they are pledging $250 million to programs that promote high school graduation and career readiness over the next five years. This funding will be distributed through school grants, community organizations, and other companies helping at-risk students graduate and prepare them for careers. What level of achievement could students reach if they were all given equal opportunities? What responsibility to corporations have to put student success on their radar?

LifeBound is working this summer to close the achievement gap through providing students with a summer of learning. Summer learning losses are one of the greatest setbacks to underprivileged children. Ask us more about our book donations and literacy initiative by sending your questions to contact@lifebound.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

While our nation is at-risk for financial and real-estate debacles, we are also at-risk for our economy of the future in underprepared college graduates who are swelling our Higher Educational institutions in numbers two-thirds strong in community colleges and almost one-third strong in four year schools as the article below indicates.

So, what must change at the middle school and high school levels to turn around this disturbing trend, which has grave implications for our workforce of the future? Here are my suggestions:

1) Required homework for high school students. Many of the high school students with whom I work are proud of the fact that they can pass all of their courses without studying at night. How will our reading, writing and math scores improve if we rely on class-time only? American
students should be studying at least three hours a night to become college ready.

2) Training in question-based teaching for students. Many students who aren’t learning at the middle school and high school levels are bored. We need to train teachers–especially high school teachers–in question-based teaching which can produce a dynamic, interactive classroom.

3) Districts have to work together. Schools have to get out of their own individual silos of “elementary,” “middle” and “high school” and think about what skills and bars are needed for students to successfully progress in all skill and learning areas. Without this, there is no way for
measurements and standards to be analyzed over time.

4) Colleges have to work more closely with districts. Without colleges in clear communication to their feeder districts, school administrators won’t know what deficits appear in their graduates once they get to college. An open and close communication will help close this gap.

You don’t need a masters in mathematics to realize that 1.5 million college students remediated for English and 2.5 million remediated for math doesn’t create a strong economic outlook, especially in times of uncertainty such as these where American giants like General Motors are under siege. It is time to change our patterns.

ARTICLE
Chronicle of Higher Education
by By KEVIN CAREY

The man who ranges in No Man’s Land

Is dogged by the shadows on either hand.
— James H. Knight-Adkin, 1917

Remediation is the no man’s land of American education. Every year we send hundreds of thousands of young men and women over the top, across a rocky landscape strewn with pedagogical barbed wire and the remains of those who tried and failed before them. We know, without a doubt, that many of those eager and unsuspecting students won’t make it. Yet we send them anyway, because there’s always another fresh class of recruits to enroll.

To view the entire article visit
http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=5kMWzzMmfyszsZfbZqcTdktDwPtgkyfg

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