Clare Lesieur Photo by Kathryn Lucariello [Order this photo]

EUREKA SPRINGS -- With the Eureka Springs School District's new direction of "Total Instructional Alignment (TIA)" as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative, the background and experience of its new elementary school principal may be just the perfect fit needed.

Clare Lesieur comes to Eureka from Harrison, where she spent nine years, teaching fourth grade and later becoming an instructional specialist, i.e., an academic coach to the other teachers.

"I worked with any areas needing improvement," she said. "I was a resource for teachers and worked to make improvement plans. It was a great job, and I worked closely with the building principals."

Lesieur, originally from Austin, Texas, has a bachelor's degree in English from Southwest Texas State University and a master's in elementary education and educational leadership. She is currently on track in the educational specialist and superintendent's program at the University of Central Arkansas, working on a superintendent's license and a Ph.D.

"I was really ready to step into this leadership role," she said of her move to Eureka. "I wasn't actively looking, but this opened up."

She and her husband, William, have been married for 11 years and have no children. He is a heavy equipment operator.

Lesieur's hobbies are writing poetry, hiking, walking, yoga and nature photography ("anything outdoors").

She says Eureka "feels like home" -- Austin, with its culture, arts and diversity.

And she had good feelings about the schools.

"From the moment I walked in the building I felt this would be a good space," she said. "The teachers felt the same way."

She went through several interviews with the staff and made several site visits before making a decision to accept the principal's job.

In addition to being the principal, Lesieur will provide impetus to the school district for TIA.

As part of the No Child Left Behind initiative, TIA mandates that schools have 100 percent proficiency for each grade level by 2014. Teachers must be highly qualified, and students must receive remedial instruction if they are not performing to standards.

"We've been having a lot of talks about our goals," Lesieur said. "In addition to our goals, we need to make sure we can meet our students' needs, not only within grade levels but across grade levels."

She said TIA is a team effort in "holding us accountable to higher standards. Hopefully our testing is geared for that level of development."

Lesieur said the team approach includes parents, teachers and those in special services who work closely to "educate the whole child."

"It's not just about academics," she said. "It definitely does include parents. Their attitude toward school does influence their children's view."

She said that "back to school" nights are being planned so that parents will know what's coming up.

TIA also includes principal involvement in the classroom.

"My heart is in the classroom, and the teachers are excited about that," she said. "We have classroom walk-throughs. I go into classrooms, and we have certain criteria I look for. It's a quick snapshot. I enter the data and it shows instructional strategies."

Asked whether teachers feel intimidated by such monitoring, she said, "I think the staff is really pleased to have me. They've been emailing and calling and inviting me over. This is a group that really wants that."

Lesieur sees parents as a critical part of the team approach.

"I want parents to know they are welcome in the building. So often they want to help and to know what to do. There are things they can do at home, also."

She said help is available even if parents cannot or will not be involved.

"We have to know realistically that not everyone had a positive experience with school themselves. We take kids as they come to us. Any way that we can support a family, we have lots of services."

Lesieur said her personal goals are to improve instructional programs, get parents more involved, increase attendance rates and to "build on what (Superintendent) Carr has already put in place."

"We're trying to move to that next level in leadership," she said. "He's really working with us as an administrative team. We want to see the schools go from good to great."