Center for the Fourth and Fifth "R"s

SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE (K-12)

A project of the
Center for the 4th and 5th Rs
and the Institute for Excellence & Ethics (IEE)

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Major funding provided by the
John Templeton Foundation and the Sanford N. McDonnell Foundation

The SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE is a joint project of the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs and the Institute for Excellence & Ethics (IEE). It is engaged in research, development, trainings, and dissemination to build a network of Smart & Good Schools committed to the mission of developing performance character and moral character within an Ethical Learning Community.

You can participate in the Smart & Good Schools Initiative in the following ways:

  1. Link to Character Education Web siteTake advantage of the Smart & Good High Schools report and other free resources below for learning about the Smart & Good Schools vision and sharing that knowledge with others.

  2. ee newsletter coverSubscribe to Excellence & Ethics:The Education Letter of the Smart & Good Schools Initiative (free). Published 3 times a year, this education letter carries articles on best practices K-12 for developing performance character and moral character. Best way to introduce colleagues to practical strategies for implementing the Smart & Good vision.

  3. Participate in the annual Smart & Good Schools Summer Institute (June 29 - July 1, 2009)

  4. rich parisiSchedule on-site trainings for your school or district. Email Rich Parisi, Director of Operations at the Institute for Excellence & Ethics,
    www.excellenceandethics.com.


  5. Adopt and implement one or more of the forthcoming Smart & Good Power2 curricular programs, published by and available from the Institute for Excellence & Ethics (IEE): Power2LearnTM, Power2TeachTM, Power2LeadTM, Power2ParentTM, Power2CoachTM, and Power2WorkTM. Power2LearnTM is currently being pilot-tested in Livonia School District, NY. Power2LearnTM and Power2TeachTM will be pilot-tested in Kansas, Iowa, and New York schools during the 2009-2010 school year. For more information, go to IEE's website: www.excellenceandethics.com.

    Arrange for trainings that accompany the Power2 programs you wish to implement. Use the Smart & Good "Character and Culture Power Assessment" process to evaluate and continually improve your school's use of the Power2 programs.

    Participate in an online community of schools and other organizations using the Power2 programs.

    Email Rich Parisi for the steps involved in contracting with the Smart & Good Schools Initiative for Power2 products and services.

Free Resources for Learning About the Smart & Good Schools Vision

As a first step toward learning about and beginning to implement the Smart & Good Schools vision, many schools have formed study groups around these resources.

  1. Link to Character Education Web siteView online or print out and read Smart & Good High Schools: Integrating Excellence and Ethics for Success in School, Work, and Beyond. (You can also order a bound copy of Smart & Good High Schools.)

    "A brilliant blend of research, conceptual clarity, and real-world best practices."
    --Journal of Research in Character Education

    Smart & Good High Schools is a 2-year study describing 100 promising practices drawn from 24 diverse, award-winning high schools. It provides the theory, research, and practical strategies that serve as the foundation for the Smart & Good Schools approach now being used by elementary, middle, and high schools.

    The following handouts will help you access the core ideas of the Smart & Good report, share them with colleagues, and apply them in your work.

  2. tom lickonaA 30-minute narrated PowerPoint presentation (iCohere online character education conference, March 2006, introducing the Smart & Good Schools vision)


    Questions for pair-share or small-group discussion:
    • How does the two-part conception of character (performance character and moral character) increase the relevance and power of character education?
    • What lessons can we draw from "Jason's story"?

  3. "Smart & Good Schools: A Paradigm Shift for Character Education" (article in Education Week, Nov. 2007)
    4. Questions for pair-share or small-group discussion:

    1. What is the mission of a "Smart & Good School"?

    2. In what sense is this mission a "paradigm shift"—a new way of thinking—for the field of character education?

    3. In what ways are performance character and moral character both needed for and developed from any academic subject? Consider a subject area such as math, and make a list:

    • Performance character qualities needed for and developed from math:
    • Moral character qualities needed for and developed from math.

  4. Performance Values: Why They Matter and What Schools Can Do to Foster Their Development (CEP Position Paper)

    This Character Education Partnership position paper sets forth an expanded view of character and character education that recognizes the importance of performance character (needed for best work) as well as moral character (needed for ethical behavior). It builds on work first presented in Smart & Good High Schools. The paper reviews research on the complementary contributions of performance character and moral character to human development and achievement and describes ten practices that teachers and schools have used to develop performance character. In this expanded vision of character education, a school or community of character is one that helps us "be our best" and "do our best" in all areas of our lives.

    As you read the section, "10 Ways to Develop Performance Character," do a School Audit: For each of the 10 practices, rate your school 1, 2, or 3 (where 1 is low and 3 is high) on the extent to which you think the school effectively uses a particular practice (e.g., rubrics, providing models of excellence, creating a culture of excellence).

    Questions for pair-share or small-group discussion:

    1. In what ways did this paper increase your understanding of performance character and moral character?

    2. Share two practices for which you gave your school relatively high ratings and two for which you gave low ratings. Explain your reasons.

    ee newsletter
  5. "The 4 KEYS: Maximizing the Power of Any Character Education Practice" (lead article in the winter 2009 issue of excellence & ethics)

    6. Questions for pair-share or small group:

    1. What are the 4 KEYS? Define and give an example of each.
    2. Choose one character education practice (e.g., character quotations, cooperative learning, class meetings, service learning, studying heroes) your school currently uses. Brainstorm ways to get more power from the practice by using the 4 KEYS.
    3. Share your ideas with another pair or small group.

  6. picture of keys"Developing Performance Character and Moral Character: 4 KEYS" (from the Smart & Good report)

    This table lays out 16 strategies for using the 4 KEYS. Do an audit: Which of these strategies does your school use? Which does it not use? For each KEY, select a strategy that you think your school should adopt or adapt.

  7. "Fostering an Ethic of Excellence" (article in the Winter/Spring 2006 issue of The Fourth & Fifth Rs)

    Excerpted from Berger's book, An Ethic of Excellence: Creating a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students, this article describes 5 strategies for creating a culture of excellence in the classroom.



  8. handbook for Moral Character"Smart & Good Schools" (chapter by Matthew Davidson, Thomas Lickona, and Vladimir Khmelkov in L. Nucci and D. Narvaez , Eds. Handbook of Moral and Character Education. NY: Routledge, 2008)

    Describes the theory, research, and essential practices of the Smart & Good Schools vision.

  9. "Smart & Good: Integrating Performance Character and Moral Character in Schools" (article in Independent School, Winter 2007.)

    A quick introduction to performance character, moral character, and the 4 KEYS with special attention to how these ideas are relevant to high performing schools.

  10. Character Quotations: Activities That Build Character and Community character quotations

by Tom Lickona & Matt Davidson. Character quotations that foster performance virtues and moral virtues for each week of the school year, along with reflections questions and action assignments.
View samples here.

 


More Resources

Trainings and Conferences

Smart & Good Schools Summer Institute, "Maximizing the Power of Character for Teaching and Learning, " June 29 - July 1, 2009, Cortland, NY. Serves as an introductory training (K-12) in the Smart & Good Schools vision.

 

 

Smart & Good presentations at the the Character Education Partnership's, 2009 National Forum on Character Education, Oct. 29 - 31, Alexandria, VA.

On-site trainings for your school, district, or organization. (Contact Rich Parisi, Director of Operations, Institute for Excellence & Ethics.)

Instruments and Evaluation

Collective Responsibility for Excellence and Ethics (CREE)

vlad and matt

Developed by Vlad Khmelkov and Matt Davidson, the Collective Responsibility for Excellence and Ethics (CREE) instrument measures various aspects of the ethical learning community and the development of the strengths of character. More specifically, the student component measures students' responsibility for self and for others in the performance and moral domains, ethical learning community among students, and their experiences of learning the strengths of character (Lickona and Davidson, 2005). The teacher component measures teachers' practices promoting performance and moral character and their assessments of the extent to which students are learning the strengths of character.

For questions on the CREE and for the most recent version of the survey, please contact Cornerstone Consulting.


Parenting Resources

In the Smart & Good Schools vision, creating an Ethical Learning Community means maximizing the involvement of four stakeholder groups: staff, students, parents, and the wider community. The following are resources for helping parents maximize the power of character in the home.

  1. "Raise Children of Character," adapted from Chapter 2 of Tom Lickona's Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues. Simon & Schuster, 2004. Ten practical principles, illustrated with real-life stories, for fostering character development in the family.

  2. "Teaching Kids How to Make Good Decisions" PowerPoint presentation by Tom Lickona. What the research tells us about the factors that shape conscience and character -- and how to foster wise decision-making on the part of our children.

  3. Raising Good Children: Helping Your Child Through the Stages of Moral Development. Psychologist Tom Lickona desribes the predictable stages of moral development from birth to adulthood with down-to-earth advice and guidance for each stage.

  4. "Raising Good Children: 10 Things Parents Can Do" PowerPoint presentation that accompanies chapter in item one, above. Psychologist Tom Lickona describes the predictable stages of moral development from birth to adulthood with down-to-earth advice and guidance for each stage.

  5. "10 Ways to Start a Conversation with Your Child" Open-ended questions that help parents and kids have a meaningful exchange of thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

  6. parenting for character"The Power of Modeling in Children's Character Development," In D. Streight (Ed.) Parenting for Character: Five Experts, Five Practices. Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education (www.csee.org), 2008. This chapter examines all the ways that the example of parents and other adults impacts young people's character development.

  7. "Talk to Kids About Sex, Love, & Character," from Tom Lickona's Character Matters: How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgment, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues. Simon & Schuster, 2004. How to help kids understand the physical, emotional, moral, and spiritual benefits of saving sexual intimacy for a truly committed love relationship.

  8. "Ten Emotional Dangers of Premature Sexual Involvement" A resource that has been used by parents and teachers to help kids understand all the ways that premature sexual intimacy can harm their heart, character, and future. Includes true stories from the lives of teens that illustrate the ten emotional dangers.

  9. "Raising Children of Character in Troubled Times" This lecture, delivered after the April 1999 Columbine School shootings, deals with the impact of an increasingly toxic media environment.

  10. "Do Parents Make a Difference in Children's Character Development? What the Research Shows" This lecture reviews reserach showing all the ways that parents play a major role in the character development of their
    children.

  11. "Media Guidelines" Guidelines that schools can send home to parents to help them regulate the role of media in family life.