EXCELLENCE & ETHICS

Updates from March, 2011

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  Power2Achieve Toolkit Training at Allen Creek Elementary

  RichParisi posted in Character Blog, Power2Achieve Community at 9:37 am on March 31, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: elementary schools (4), Power2Achieve Toolkit, Professional Development (4)

  Earlier this month I had the opportunity to spend a professional development day working with the Allen Creek Elementary Staff on a Power2Achieve Toolkit on Utilizing Effective Goal Achievement Strategies. During the hour and a half drive from Pittsford, NY back to Liverpool, NY I had a chance to reflect on what was a very enjoyable day with their staff.

  As I thought about the day I was excited about the Professional Ethical Learning Community (PELC) they have created where staff members truly show respect and care to one another so they can do their best work. We began the day reviewing their Faculty Power2Achieve Portable Compact-4-Excellence which they had developed after a training day we had done back in August of 2010. A real highlight for a consultant is when you go back to work with a school and see that they have actually taken what you shared and implemented it in their setting. Because we were involved in a five hour training on March 18^th we had to make a few revisions in their general Compact to make sure we were ready to work together effectively in what was a slightly different environment. In our Culture of Excellence & Ethics Newsletter about the Compact we comment that, “High functioning groups have at least two essential elements: (1) common goals and (2) shared rules for how they work together to achieve their goals.” Allen Creek Elementary has used the Compact to establish very clear rules for them to work together to achieve their goals.

  A common goal they share at Allen Creek Elementary is to “help students be their best selves and do their best work”. It is actually a goal that also includes the entire learning community and that was very evident from the active engagement of the staff during the day and their comments at the end of the day. We spent the day looking at the importance of effort and attitude and goal setting and how our Power2Achieve Attitude and Effort Rubric and the Power2Achieve Goal Map Tools could be utilized by staff to positively impact their learning community.

  I have listed below some of their comments from an end of day feedback form about the training day. I was excited to see the many takeaways they had gained from the day and their enthusiasm to begin using these tools both with students and for their own personal growth.

  • There were ideas/suggestions that I can implement in my classroom immediately.
  • This workshop will enable me to intertwine the Power2Achieve Attitude & Effort Rubric into goal setting with my students.
  • The Power2Achieve Attitude & Effort Rubric and Goal Setting Tools will be very useful to use with my students.
  • The most valuable part of the day to me was being given some good strategies that can be applied in our classrooms along with having the opportunity to share and discuss them.
  • I will use the tools as a Tier II R.T.I.
  • Learning how to set goals was great-I can use this myself and with students.
  • I plan to implement goal setting immediately with the steps discussed and to add a parent share component. I will also introduce the Attitude/Effort Rubric.
  • I loved the Training Booklet with Tools and articles.
  • IEE has had a transformative effect on my teaching and therefore on my students attitude and success!

  Before leaving that day I said to Mike Biondi, building principal, and Sue Gager, school counselor, that I was really blessed to work with a learning community that was committed to being life-long learners and that I certainly appreciated the positive feedback about the day. However, I said the real test about the success of the day would be to see what steps the staff took to implement the Power2Achieve Tools we had worked with that day. Our goal at IEE is to give teachers practical tools that can be integrated into classrooms to help build the culture of excellence and ethics needed for success in school, work and beyond.  I look forward to hearing about steps that they take at Allen Creek Elementary in the future.

  

   

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  CEEA Included in Federal School Climate Survey Compendium

  Vlad Khmelkov posted in IEE & Partners' News at 11:40 am on March 22, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: assessment (5), CEEA (2), school climate (2), school culture (2), surveys

  On March 8 2011, IEE’s Culture of Excellence & Ethics Assessment (CEEA) surveys were included in the School Climate Survey Compendium compiled by the Safe and Supportive Schools Technical Assistance Center of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. The review of the psychometric information conducted by the S3 TAC recognizes the surveys included in the Compendium as valid and reliable assessment tools that can be used for school climate needs assessment: http://safesupportiveschools.ed.gov/index.php?id=133.

  The initial list consists of 8 instruments. Of these, only two instruments are publicly available, and CEEA surveys are one of these two options. IEE is proud of this accomplishment and expresses gratitude to the John Templeton and Sanford N. McDonnell Foundations for their financial support, as well as to students, staff, and parents in many schools and districts across the country that participated in pilot- and field-testing of the current version of CEEA surveys in 2009 and 2010.

  CEEA surveys version 4.5 are the result of 10 years of intensive design and testing work. In-depth information about the survey history, theoretical background, psychometrics, sample forms and reports, as well as assessment services offered by IEE, can be found on our website:

  http://excellenceandethics.com/assess/ceea.php

  

   
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  Building Intervention Muscles

  Kyle Baker posted in Character Blog at 2:22 pm on March 17, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  Last night I attended a screening of the movie The Stoning of Soraya M, a powerful film adapted from the book La Femme Lapidée by Freidoune Sahebjam, which is based on the true story of Soraya Manutchehri, a 35 year old woman who was stoned to death in Iran in 1986.

  I had seen the film once previously, and both times I was moved by the story and reminded that whether we choose to think about it or not, there are terrible things that occur around the world and as well as in our own backyards on a daily basis.

  Following the showing of the film, there was a brief period for comments and discussions from those in attendance.   I was thankful for those who stood up for their culture and faith tradition and said “what is depicted is not our practice,” as well as for the unifying call to “stop this kind of innocent-bystander behavior in our own lives and around the world,” which emerged early and was echoed throughout the discussion. (I would be lying if I said that every single comment during the discussion was geared toward these positive, accurate, and unifying themes, but the vast majority were, and it was an open-floor commenting format so there was an opportunity to learn from what everyone had to share.).

  Watching the film again and listening to the discussion reminded me of a recent experience.

  A few months ago, I was visiting with a person whose child attends a very “nice” (high academically performing, above average SES, strong athletic/extra-curricular programs, positive perceptions among local public, etc.) high school.  He asked me, “Do you think there are guns in my child’s school?”

  I thought about the question for a moment before answering that I could not comment on if there were guns in the school or not, because I had no information on that topic or situation, but I could assure him 100% that there were extremely dangerous, even deadly weapons that were not only present in the school, but used on a daily basis.

  I then explained to him that while I didn’t know if there were guns or knives, or if there were how many or how often they were brought into the building, what I did know was that bullying, harassment, violent language, demeaning behavior and more occurred every day within the walls of the school (and increasingly, online as well).  I told him that while these weapons may initially seem like a less urgent problem to deal with, these weapons play key factors in the cases of school violence, self-harm, and suicide that we see occur all too often (and on an increasing basis).

  These aren’t easy things to talk about and deal with, just like The Stoning of Soraya M. isn’t an easy film to watch and think about, but last night I continued to see the critical the need to explicitly teach both youth and adults the skills needed to discern right from wrong, to thoughtfully form and stand up for their beliefs, to intentionally shape the culture that we live and work in, and to develop the courage and skills needed to speak up and step in when they see or hear something that isn’t right.

  Through gaining knowledge and learning to use strategies such as those presented in the Culture of Excellence & Ethics Intervention Continuum, which is presented to students in Unit 5.1 of the Power2Achieve Foundations program and Integrity in Action Student Leadership Academies like the one we hosted on February 12th, to educators in our Power2Achieve Toolkit/Academy 5.1 workshops and our Creating a Bully-Free, Safe, and Supportive Learning Environment Toolkit/Academy workshops like the one we recently conducted in Iowa, and to others throughout our additional work, we can begin to build the “intervention muscles” that we all have within us…and in doing so empower ourselves and others to step-up an intervene in life-and-death situations as well as the situations that seem small at first, but which can lead to much more serious consequences down the road, because as the Intervention Continuum reminds us…there are no innocent bystanders.

  

   

  

   
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  Conference Celebrates National Sportsmanship Day

  Institute for Excellence & Ethics posted in Character Blog at 7:30 pm on March 1, 2011 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  

  On March 15-16, Matt Davidson will present at the PIAA-sponsored conference entitled “Schools Shaping the Culture of Sport” at the University of Scranton. The conference also features John Walsh, executive vice president and executive editor of ESPN, Inc. The conference includes workshops for coaches, athletes and parents, an award dinner and a panel discussion about values and character in sport at the national level.

  See more information: http://matrix.scranton.edu/news/royalnews/articles/2011/03/01/National-Sportsmanship-Day.shtml