Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

How to Read This ReportThere are two ways to read this report. One is tobegin here and move through the material inthe order we have arranged it. Another is togo directly to a chapter or part of a chapterthat has special interest for you. We have provided a comprehensiveTable of Contents that lists subheadings andpull-out boxes for each chapter. In the electronic versionof the report, just click on the chapter or subheadinglink.Throughout the document, internal links, ones that takeyou to another page within the PDF, are highlighted inpurple. External links, ones that take you to a resourceoutside the PDF, are highlighted in red.Different icons are used to designate different categoriesof promising practices that we identified in our study. InChapter 3 on the Ethical Learning Community (ELC), weuse a miniature version of our ELC graphic bearing theacronym “ELC.” In Chapter 4 on the Professional EthicalLearning Community (PELC), we use the same graphicbut with the acronym “PELC.”In Chapter 5 on promising practices that foster our EightStrengths of Character, we use a segmented octagon,highlighting the segment relevant to the characterstrength under discussion.To help you decide how you’d like to approach thereport, here’s an overview of its content:The Front Matter, especially the section on ResearchMethodology, will give you the background on our studyand how we identified promising practices.Principles of a Smart & Good High School (page xxv)lays out the basic blueprint for developing a school committedto the integration of excellence and ethics.Chapter 1 sets the context by presenting “performanceindicators” (having to do with achievement) and “moralindicators” (having to do with ethical behavior) that offera picture of today’s adolescents. Then we describe twoperformance challenges and two moral challenges thatare among the many faced by American high schoolstoday—and that are most fruitfully addressed by keepinga “hedgehog” focus on excellence and ethics.Chapter 2 presents a new definition of character—as consistingof performance character (doing our best work)and moral character (being our best ethical self). This isa key theoretical concept in our report.Chapter 3 presents six principles—and promising prac-xviiSmart & Good High Schools