The first document is a series of FAQs, with straight-forward answers about what CEEA surveys measure and how one could use them. For example:

What does CEEA survey measure? As the name suggests, CEEA surveys measure the extent to which the climate and culture of a school are conducive to the development of student competencies of excellence and ethics, or their performance character and moral character. In addition, CEEA surveys measure whether the school climate is safe, supportive, and engaging for students; whether staff engage in supportive collegial relationships; and the extent to which the school engages student families in support of student learning.

The second document is a conceptual description of the components of CEEA surveys. It tries to provide a brief research basis for the selection of the specific aspects of school culture included in the surveys. We believe that by focusing on those aspects of school culture that promote excellence and ethics, performance character and moral character, and by measuring them simultaneously along multiple dimensions and from multiple sources (student self-efficacy beliefs, perceptions of peers, perceptions of faculty; staff perceptions of themselves, of students, of colleagues, and of student families, plus the perceptions of the relevant constructs reported by parents), we have created a powerful instrument. The power of this assessment tool lies, however, not in its ability to identify individuals who underperform and are in need of improvement, but in its rich findings about the school culture: these findings can serve as a basis for multiple in-depth conversations among school leaders, staff, and among students, helping all stake-holders to understand their current state and formulate their desired state.

See, for example, the winter/spring 2010 issue of our newsletter, excellence & ethics, for one school’s powerful story of how they used survey data on the culture of their school to engage staff and students in reflections about the school, formulating what to do to improve it, and committing to real change.

For a discussion of why cultural assets, such as those measured by CEEA surveys, are essential for all schools working on improving teaching, learning, and collegial relationships see, for example, CEP White Paper on Developing and Assessing School Culture.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012377639_guest19teachers.html

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/the-science-of-genius-a-qa-with-author-david-shenk/?emc=eta1

The comments are fascinating, and there’s abundance of resources for those who need extension materials for Power2Achieve Focus Area 4: Commit to High Standards and Continuous Improvement.

“We all know the saying it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And everyone knows that, but I think there is a corollary: If everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up. It’s better to fix problems than to prevent them. And the natural tendency for managers is to try and prevent error and overplan things.”

— Ed Catmull, President of Pixar

Several of us at IEE are frequent readers of Signals vs. Noise, the weblog by 37signals.   While they may dwell in a different category (web-based apps for organizations), we share membership in the field of design…In fact I think  the reason we see  so many paralells between their work and ours is that we are both in the business of designing solutions.

This quote from the Pixar president points out a mistake that is really easy to make on this end, and one we definitely have made a few times over the past year.  A major focus for us as we roll out the 2010-2011 Power2Achieve material is to not overplan but rather to give teachers and administrators what they need to put their expertise into practice as they teach students to use top-flight character development tools.

Sidenote:  I have a great friend who loves to shout “SON!”  whenever he’s excited about something (he’s also a fine educator at Archbishop Carroll High School in D.C., shout-out to JJ Gregg).  I’m not sure he’s talking about the acronym I may or may not have just coined, but maybe I’ll start shouting it to people around our office when we get dangerously close to overplanning (in fairness, I may be the most guilty of us all).

As I think back to my time as a classroom teacher, this quote definitely would have applied during those days as well.

How does it resonate with you?

(p.s. if you also enjoy Signals vs. Noise or are just looking for a really great read, check out Rework, the second book by the founders of 37Signals, Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson…we LOVE it).

The unique blend of people and backgrounds created an environment for synergistic sharing, teaching and learning. As the week unfolded someone in the group dubbed it a “think tank.” This descriptor was right on track as we explored so many interesting topics that are relevant to not only character and culture but also the authentic alignment of this work to education reform, 21st Century Skills, RTI, PBIS and so much more.

The IEE team’s passion and commitment to evolve the Power2Achieve programs to a new level of excellence was very evident. Through the field research process, the team has incorporated feedback and data from students, teachers, administrators and partner organizations to strengthen the innovative programming, assessment tools and online resources.

What I think is most exciting about the entire week is that I see applications of this work on many levels including K-12 education, athletics and the workplace. To extend the reach of applications one step further, consider that the participants who attended are connecting these concepts and programs to their work from Iowa to Bronx, NY, from Kansas to Costa Rica, and from Texas to Japan and numerous other cities and states in between.

Now that is true innovation.

“I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds.

Simplify, simplify.”

Today:  IEE team meeting involving some of our key partners distribution and training partners from Maryland/DC, Iowa, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, Kansas, and Texas.  There are seemingly thousands upon thousands of important topics for discussion…so how to we make it an efficient and productive day that can help set course for a dynamic 2010-2011?

We began by brainstorming and agreeing upon a list of norms for the day using a real Power2Achieve Tool, the Portable Compact-4-Excellence.  Here’s what we agreed to do:

• Say on task
• Courage to bring us back
• Respect different needs & personalities
• Don’t be “innocent bystanders”
• Use time & talent well

The entire process for the formation of our Portable Compact took over an hour…a waste of time with so many priorities and such finite time?  That’s not exactly how we see it, because the process simultaneously allowed us to simplify…to focus on what everyone needs to be able to do when they leave this room today:

1)  Communicate clearly {efficiently & accurately}

2)  Build to meet the need

3)  Exercise expertise

The response was extremely positive from people that worked with Power2Learn in 2009-2010 as well as people who had a limited frame of reference to the previous materials.  Definitely confirmation that we’re moving towards making true 21st century character education programs that are needed by schools and accessible to administrators, teachers, and students!

Day 1 was all about familiarization with programming.  We’ve got an incredible group of teachers, administrators, trainers, professors, non-prof based educators, and other educational stake holders assembled, so what do we have on tap for Day 2…

How do we make this a reality in schools now?

Guaranteed to be another exciting day at the IEE World Headquarters!

Matt Davidson, President & Co-Founder of the Institute for Excellence & Ethics, opening the 2010 Summer Institute:

“Power2 programming translates the Smart & Good vision into concrete steps for bringing the vision into reality.”

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week on the 2010 Summer Institute!

If you could give  just 1 book to a new teacher (or a teacher who really wanted to further develop their skills and expertise), what would it be?

Here are the answers I received:

Cathy Fisher (Teaching & Learning Coordinator, Maercker School District 60, Dupage County, IL)

Enhancing Professional Practice:  A Framework for Teaching (2nd Edition)

-Charlotte Danielson

Margaret Seidel (6th Grade Teacher, Avon Public School District, Avon, CT)

Readicide

-Kelly Gallagher

Eric Martin (Director of Outreach, Institute for Character Development, Drake University)

A Teachable Moment:  A Facilitator’s Guide to Activities for Professing, Debriefing, Reviewing, and Reflection

-Jim Cain, Michelle Cummings, and Jennifer Stanchfield

Tom Lickona (Professor of Education, Director of the Center for the 4th & 5th R’s, SUNY Cortland)

Lessons from the Classrooms:  20 Things Good Teachers Do

-Hal Urban

(When you literally wrote the book on a field like Tom did, in this case Character Education…see Matt D’s recommendations…you’re allowed to suggest 2 books)

An Ethic of Excellence:  Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students

-Ron Berger

Matt Davidson (President, Director of Education, and Co-Founder of IEE)

Educating for Character:  How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility

-Tom Lickona

“I have 3 copies of this, all of which are highlighted and marked up with tons of notes.  It’s practical, has lots of suggestions for many of the most common classroom management, discipline, and character development challenges.”

(If you’re my boss, you get the quote from your email posted on the blog)

As for me…I used and continue to use the strategies presented in The Smart & Good School Report (by Tom Lickona & Matt Davidson) in every interaction I have with teachers, students, athletes, and most other people I meet.  It is absolutely one of the most valuable resources I’ve ever come across (and you can download it in its entirety for free!)

The other book I used every single day after I got it and passed on to many of my colleagues was

Character Quotations:  Activities that Build Character and Community, also by Tom Lickona and Matt Davidson

This book has a quote and a discussion question for every single day of the school year to use with your students oriented around weekly topics.  There is also an idea for an activity for each week to help pull the theme through from Monday to Friday for increased student learning.  I used this in my elementary classroom every morning to start our day during morning meeting, I used it to develop  a “Pride Code” for a high school football team throughout a season, and I know teachers who have put it into every situation from suburban elementary schools to urban high schools with incredible results.   At IEE, our Power2Achieve Foundations and Toolkits provide intense and intentional ways for schools and teachers to shape the culture and help students  their performance and moral character…but if I could give one teacher one book for them to use immediately, this would be it…In other words…get it and use it!!

Please continue to send me your recommendations or post them as a reply to this post!  Let’s continue to develop our list of essential resources every teacher should have!

The IEE Team all contributed to this successful grant. John and Lucia Cataldo played a key leadership role in the pursuit of this grant which was just over a six month process from beginning to end.

One of the exciting things about this grant is the opportunity we are going to have to work with parents and schools in our own community. We will keep our team informed as to the progress with this project. We are hopeful that the parent component will be someting that all of our team can benefit from in the future.