Support elementary school principals in Mexico

The donations that we received for this project were designated for the LISTO Calakmul 2018 group. LISTO trains and accompanies public school principals in academic, collaborative, transformational and organizational leadership. Through a combination of workshops and coaching, its objective is to encourage leaders who create effective learning environments that involve teachers, parents, and the community in the improvement of learning results. The Calakmul group finished the first year of the two-year LISTO program in January of 2019. The group was composed of 49 participants initially, of which 40 finished the first year.

Thanks to the donations received we were able to buy a portable internet modem. In this region it is often difficult to have internet access, and this tool was necessary for our participants to be able to access a wireless network and our educational platform. With this access, the participants could apply their own evaluation instruments, which allowed for the evaluation of the impact they had in their schools and in their leadership, results that we will show below.

In their transformational leadership they improved in the following characteristics:

1. Individualized Consideration: the participants pay special attention to the needs and differences of each individual, through: listening, feedback, advice, trust, and security; personalized interactions with their followers; the development of their followers´ potential and the connection of the needs of their followers with the institutional mission.

2. Intellectual Stimulation : the participants stimulate and encourage innovation, creativity and the questioning of old assumptions.

3. Inspirational Motivation : the participants motivate and inspire their followers and uplift the spirit of the team.

4. Charisma: the participants deliver a clear and articulate vision of the future, sharing within it the needs of the followers, and are consistent between what they say and do.

In the performance of the participants in the work centers, they improved in the following indicators:

1. Participatory Planning: the participants implemented tools for diagnostics, programming, execution, and evaluation for the different problems that they face in the school community.
2. School Culture: the participants help improve the environment that results from the relationships among the educational community itself, with school materials, and with all methodological aspects (administrative or pedagogical).

3. Teacher Professionalization: the participants acquire a sense of commitment from their initial training and afterwards in their work performance.