Smart & Good High Schools - The Flippen Group

CHAPTER 3: The Ethical Learning Communitywide-ranging honor code. See the box below for thedetails of this school’s governance process and the resultsof its honor code effort.2. Direct democracy. The rationale for direct democracy isto maximize students’ civic engagement and ethicalgrowth by maximizing their active participation in schoolgovernance. Direct democracy schools are called “justcommunity schools” when they base their approach onthe moral development theory of Lawrence Kohlberg. 33Reflecting that theoretical perspective, the leader of onesuch school commented, “Developmental theory tells usthat the experience of cognitive dissonance helps to bringabout advances in moral reasoning. We therefore want allof our students, not just some of them, to experience thedissonance that comes from democratic debate.” A justcommunity school delineates those areas (e.g., honorcode; creation of a safe, caring, and productive learningenvironment) in which the just community—students,faculty, and administration—is granted authority to makedecisions together, each person having one vote, and alsodefines those areas (e.g., curriculum requirements, drugpolicy) that are outside its jurisdiction.“We want all of our students toexperience the dissonance that comesfrom democratic debate.”Clark Power and colleagues report research showing thatstudents in just community schools rate their schoolshigher than do students in traditional schools and developcollective normative values that include the feeling ofobligation to act out of concern for the welfare of the“THE LEADERSHIP TEAM”: A REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL DEMOCRACYCalled The Leadership Team, the new student governmentconsisted of 9 groups of 10 students—twoelected representatives from each of the school’s secondperiodclasses. Leadership Team representatives met, onaverage, twice a month; reported back to their secondperiodclasses the next day (“Initially, some of the teachersresisted giving up time for the follow-up discussions,”the principal told us); spent the first year developing anHonor Code that covered not only lying, cheating, andstealing, but also bringing drugs or weapons to schooland all forms of bullying. At a May assembly, representativesof the Leadership Team presented the new HonorCode to the whole student body and discussed its rationale:“Any violation of the Code jeopardizes one’s selfrespectand harms the entire community.”HONOR CODE1. I will be honest and forthcoming in all my actions.2. I will treat others the way I want to be treated.3. I will extend courtesy, kindness, and respect to others.4. I will respect our school building and each individual’spersonal property and will treat them with care.5. I will strive for a sense of cooperation and pride in allour school programs.6. I will have the courage to report incidents of bullyingin any form, and report the possession of drugs orweapons on the school campus.7. I will uphold this Honor Code and will exhibit thesebehaviors when I represent our school off campus.Student leaders invited all students to “take a stand foryourself and our school by signing the Honor Code asyou leave today.” One month into the following fallsemester, Leadership Team representatives presented anew challenge to their respective classes:This year we are seeing many more incidents of drugsbeing reported and wallets and purses being turned in toLost and Found with their contents intact. But we stillhave incidents of disrespect and theft. We need yourinput to continue to improve our school. Therefore thequestions for this semester are: What can we do to promoteHonor Code behaviors schoolwide? How can werecognize these behaviors in students? Do any parts ofthe Honor Code need to be rewritten?The principal said, “I believe it’s critically important that theLeadership Team feel it got something done and be seen bytheir peers as having brought about positive change. So atevery opportunity, I’ll get on our closed-circuit TV and say,‘Your Leadership Team is responsible for the following schoolimprovements . . . .’ For example, they suggested we installsecurity cameras in the parking lots after some students andfaculty had their cars broken into—by off-campus offenders,we believe. We put the cameras in the next week.”46Smart & Good High Schools