Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

More documents

Recommendations

Info

CHAPTER 6: Commonly Asked Questions about Smart & Good High Schoolsneed what we’ve called Re-BAR—research-based actionand reflection. Schools need to collect data—from surveys,interviews, and student performance—that enablethem to answer questions such as, “What’s working?”,“What might work better?”, and “How can we make ouruse of this practice as strong as it can be?”Advisories need Re-BAR—Research-Based Action and Reflection—in orderto answer the questions, “What’sworking?”, “What might work better?”We do think advisories have strong potential to contributeto the development of our eight strengths of character.We think they have a much better chance of achievingtheir potential if they are focused in a very deliberate wayon developing critical thinkers, diligent and capable performers,ethical thinkers, democratic citizens, spiritualpersons, and so on. That means developing an advisorycurriculum with lessons aimed at these goals. We alsothink it’s wise, as some schools have done, to considertraining upper-level students to help lead the advisories.That takes some of the burden off faculty and also givesstudents another opportunity to develop leadership.One of the buzz phrases in school reform is “rigor, relevance,and relationships.” How does the Smart &Good model address that?We think our model goes to the heart of these threeideas. Let’s start with relationships. For many students,their experience of high school is one of anonymity. Wecan’t hope to improve student achievement, decrease disciplinaryproblems, or increase retention unless we canimprove the quality of the relationships students experience.A Smart & Good High School, through the six principlesit uses to create an ethical learning community,helps students feel known and needed, supported andcared for, and challenged to do their best work.What about rigor? When we talk about performance character,we’re talking about developing “conscience ofcraft”—qualities such as perseverance, positive attitude,diligence, and orderliness that are all essential for rigor.Smart & Good High Schools also achieve rigor by creatinga “culture of critique” where students support andchallenge each other in the pursuit of excellence. Forexample, a kid writes an essay. It gets shared with and critiquedby the rest of the class. The teacher mediates thatfeedback and does his or her most important instructionas part of that process. A culture of critique examinesmodels of excellence, requires multiple revisions, and hasstudents striving to meet the standards of real-world work.This is real rigor.In fact, if we remove character as the pathway to rigorand excellence, all we’re left with is the “big hammer ofexhortation.” We beg, plead, punish, and reward in ourefforts to get better work from students. But, if we engagestudents in the intentional development of their performancecharacter, so that they own that as an important personalgoal, and we do that in a classroom culture wherepeers support and challenge each other, we’ll have amuch better chance of getting high-quality performance.If students intentionally pursuethe development of their performancecharacter, their academic performanceis likely to improve.Finally, what about relevance? The qualities of performancecharacter and moral character and the process ofworking collaboratively to achieve excellence are not onlyabsolutely relevant for success in school—secondary andpost-secondary—but also for success in the workplace.Do schools really have time to devote to developingmoral character?Schools don’t have time not to attend to moral character.We don’t mean to be glib about this; we know thatschools are facing tremendous academic pressures. Butwe believe that if you want to maximize the power of yourlearning climate, you must attend to issues of character.First of all, you need a safe, orderly, and productive learningenvironment. In our report, we describe researchbased,practitioner-friendly strategies for creating thatkind of school and classroom environment.The other reason, of course, to pay attention to moralcharacter is that we want to graduate ethical people anddemocratic citizens. We have enough people in societywho are just looking out for themselves and will do whateverthey need to do—lie, cheat, steal—to succeed. Weneed more people who are willing to sacrifice somethingAn ounce of character is worth a poundof intelligence.—PROVERB214Smart & Good High Schools
CHAPTER 6: Commonly Asked Questions about Smart & Good High Schoolsfor others—who define success in terms of buildinghealthy families, leading a life of integrity, and contributingto the common good.We need more people who definesuccess in terms of leading a life ofintegrity and contributing to thewelfare of others.What we think schools do not have time for is overloadingthemselves with too many disconnected practices and programsthat are not aligned with the truly important outcomes,those that will help young people lead flourishinglives.Will it take time to implement the Smart & Good HighSchools vision in a way that truly integrates excellenceand ethics in all phases of school life? You bet. But we feelthat the time invested in that mission will contribute tothe most important goals of cutting-edge high schoolreform and to the education of the whole person.What difference does your focus on character and integratingethics and excellence make in terms of what ateacher or school actually does?Whether you’re teaching a student to do calculus, write apersuasive essay, understand history, or play a musicalinstrument, you always keep in mind two fundamentalquestions: First, what is the contribution of character to thischallenge? Are students not turning in homework becausethey don’t know how to be organized, manage their time,and persevere? Do we have put downs, exclusion, and bullyingin our school because we haven’t invested time indeveloping character qualities such as respect and caring?Second, how might handling this issue with a character focushelp students and our community—now and in the future? Forexample, if we develop strong norms of collective responsibilityin our schools, will students be better teammatesnow and better employees and citizens as adults? If wecultivate integrity through our honor code, will it helpour young have more honest relationships later in life?When you keep a focus on character, there’s both a shorttermpayoff and a long-term payoff regardless of thelearning task you’re working on.How does your vision meet workforce needs—includingthe demands of the high-tech global economy?On this point, the research coming out of business andindustry is pretty clear: They want and need people ofstrong performance character—people with attention todetail, timeliness, work ethic, diligence, and ingenuity.They also want people of moral character—people withstrong interpersonal skills, integrity, and a sense of socialresponsibility.This was the lesson we took from Jim Collins’s book Goodto Great. Companies that made the leap from good togreat performance said that education and skill level areimportant, but qualities of character are more important.This is as true for students graduating with hopes of workingin a blue-collar trade as it is for students graduatingwith hopes of going to college and then into a white-collarprofession.We obviously also need to prepare our students for thehigh-tech jobs many of them will have in the global economy.The character strengths that have guided the greatscientists, statesmen, inventors, and entrepreneurs of thepast will serve today’s workers as well. In the highly competitiveglobal economy they’ll need the performancecharacter qualities we’ve named before: diligence, perseverance,ingenuity, and so on. They’ll need to work collaboratively;they’ll need to be good teammates who bringout the best in those they work with; they’ll need to beopen to new ideas and new ways of thinking. These qualitiesare a matter of character.Companies that went from good togreat considered character qualitiesmore important than technical skills.In a world of rapid technological growth, there’s an evengreater need for highly developed ethical thinking andmoral character. We need students who are not simplyprepared to compete in the global economy, but also ableto grapple with the ethical challenges of our age. How dowe avoid the destruction of the environment on which alllife depends? What is the dignity of the human person?What is a reasonable wage? What is the value of life? Whatpromotes peace instead of war? Justice instead of a growinggap between the rich and the poor?Your report features lots of practices; which practicesare most important?It depends on your particular challenges and your existingassets. Consider the key ideas in the Smart & GoodHigh Schools vision and the range of practices for implementingthem. Determine which among them fills a voidthat you’re not currently addressing, strengthens a structurethat you have in place but isn’t as strong as it could215Smart & Good High Schools
Page 1 and 2:
A Report to the NationSmart & GoodH
Page 3 and 4:
A wonderful piece of work that addr
Page 5 and 6:
Dedicated to the memory ofWinifred
Page 7 and 8:
AcknowledgementsWe would like to ex
Page 9 and 10:
Table of ContentsLetter to the Read
Page 11 and 12:
ELC PRINCIPLE 4: TAKE PERSONAL RESP
Page 13 and 14:
1. Develop Critical Friends Groups
Page 15 and 16:
Letter to The Reader“Are you a he
Page 17 and 18:
Letter to the ReaderBut we also do
Page 19 and 20:
How to Read This Reporttices relate
Page 21 and 22:
Patrick Bassett, president, Nationa
Page 23 and 24:
Research Methodologyand Criteria fo
Page 25 and 26:
Research Methodology and Criteria f
Page 27 and 28:
Principles of a Smart & Good High S
Page 29 and 30:
CHAPTER 1The Call to Character:Perf
Page 31 and 32:
est work and be their best ethical
Page 33 and 34:
CHAPTER 1: The Call to Charactercha
Page 35 and 36:
CHAPTER 1: The Call to Charactertin
Page 37 and 38:
CHAPTER 1: The Call to CharacterA S
Page 39 and 40:
CHAPTER 1: The Call to CharacterBec
Page 41 and 42:
CHAPTER 1: The Call to CharacterTHE
Page 43 and 44:
1C. Peterson & M. P. Seligman, Char
Page 45 and 46:
CHAPTER 2: Performance Character an
Page 47 and 48:
Smart & Good High SchoolsCHAPTER 2:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
do not self-identify as “characte
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
EndnotesCHAPTER 2: Performance Char
Page 61 and 62:
CHAPTER 3: The Ethical Learning Com
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Galvanized by this finding, she and
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
(1) scheduling a weekend retreat in
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
person has gifts; and the convictio
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
CHAPTER 4The Professional Ethical L
Page 91 and 92:
CHAPTER 4: The Professional Ethical
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strength
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
on at home. If I think something se
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
tragedy, injustice, and weak and si
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
1.2.3.4.RULES FOR DOING OUR BEST WO
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192: CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strength
Page 201 and 202: In The Courage to Be Chaste, the pr
Page 239 and 240: CHAPTER 6Commonly Asked Questionsab
Page 241: CHAPTER 6: Commonly Asked Questions
Page 245 and 246: CHAPTER 6: Commonly Asked Questions
Page 247 and 248: Comprehensive EndnotesLetter to the
Page 249 and 250: Comprehensive Endnotesof stage-envi
Page 251 and 252: Comprehensive Endnotesacter Educati
Page 253 and 254: Comprehensive Endnotes6B. Watts Dav
Page 255 and 256: Comprehensive Endnotesside, 1990).3
show all

Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?