WE ARE A NATION IN TROUBLE. WE ARE A DIVIDED NATION. OUR DAILY LIVES ARE FILLED WITH A GENEROUS DOSE OF BLAME AND HATE FROM VARIOUS FACTIONS AND THE NATIONAL MEDIA ON A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUS, INCLUDING RACE, GENDER, POLITICS, EDUCATION, THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC POLICY AND FOREIGN POLICY. THIS MUST GET FIXED. THIS CAN BE FIXED.
THERE ARE TWO ENDURING SUB-SET PROBLEMS PLAGUING OUR COUNTRY; 1) THE PATHETIC STATE OF EDUCATION AND 2) RACE RELATIONS. IRONICALLY, IF WE SOLVE THESE TWO PROBLEMS, WE WILL TRANSFORM AMERICA AND RE-ESTABLISH A POSITIVE CULTURE.
THIS IS A LONG BLOG……12,000 + WORDS. IT CANNOT BE EXPLAINED IN A FEW HUNDRED WORDS BECAUSE IT IS A CONCEPT PAPER THAT DESCRIBES IN SOME DETAIL A NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN TO TRANSFORM AMERICA. IN ORDER TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS ABOVE WE NEED TO BEGIN BY DEFINING THE PROBLEMS, WHY THEY MUST BE FIXED, WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND HOW WE WILL REACH THE DESIRED END STATE. THERE IS NO MAGIC QUICK-FIX FORMULA; IT WILL TAKE A GENERATION. THIS IS WITHIN THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE AND I CAN FORESEE NO OTHER SOLUTION.
THE FIRST PART IS A SHORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. IF IT PEAKS YOU INTEREST, PLEASE FIND A QUIET TIME AND SPEND AN HOUR WORKING YOUR WAY THROUGH THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN PLAN. I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS, THANKS…..MARV
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Problem # 1, race relations and education are stuck: There is no definitive measure of where we are with respect to race relations in this country. But, events over the past few years tell us it is not good. In the absence of data to tell us otherwise we can assume we are at least stuck and not getting any better. Additionally, our world rankings in education tell us we are also stuck in a place we do not want to be. We can fix this.
Problem # 2, has to do with the existing culture: Culture is a powerful and pervasive force in every organization and every organization, no matter how large or small, has a culture. Culture is an organization’s personality; caring, hateful, fast, energetic, visionary, risk-taking, vengeful. We can and must fix our nation’s culture of blame and hatred.
Problem #3, is about what kids learn: Babies are not born bigoted, disrespecting or hateful. While growing up they learn it. They learn it at home, in school, on the playground and on the street. We simply have to change what the children learn.
Problem #4, top down programs do not work: The federal government has a horrible record in trying to run things. Since the Federal Government established the Department of Education in 1979, we have seen one failed program after another as each succeeding administration tries to “fix” education from the top down with hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of bureaucrats. We can change this and fix education.
Problem # 5, students get behind: Google tells us that every day 7000 students across this country drop out of school and statistically become a life-time drain and strain on society. Others are allowed to slip through the system and graduate from high school but are actually functionally illiterate. The principle reason they drop out is because they get hopelessly behind. We can fix this with a standards-based education system.
There is no quick fix for what has brought us to this impasse. The solution, in my opinion, will only come if we change what our youngsters learn, how they think, what they believe in and how they behave.
This proposed plan will be executed in a decentralized manner at the county/city level across the nation. There will be no bureaucracies involved, no Federal or State funding requirements and the character education classes will be taught by volunteers. It’s essentially free.
This campaign will reestablish a value base in America that supports a culture of ACCOUNTABILITY, TRUST AND RESPECT. Transforming America is within the art of the possible; I lived it day-to-day as it happened in a large organization, the US Army. The concept is directly transferable to the whole of the United States.
My program is called Campaign Home Room. Execution includes all 60 million elementary and secondary students, K-12, participating in a Home Room class at 0800 every day for about 20 minutes for 13 school-years with volunteer instructors. They will discuss values and character and it will be imprinted on the soul of every youngster in the United States.
What follows, is the complete concept for Campaign Home Room. If you believe it deserves a shot, I ask your assistance in getting this into the hands of those who can make it happen.
Note: this concept paper is written for a national campaign with President Trump leading. But if that does not happen, the concept as written can also be applicable for action by any state led by the Governor. In the absence of any Federal or State sponsorship, Campaign Home Room can be picked up by any county or city Board of Education and executed. At whatever level this program is activated, it will be successful, it will make a positive difference and it will be transformative for the communities involved.
Concept of Operations for Improving Race Relations
and Education and Thereby Transforming America
1. A Concept of Operation is a valuable tool in the strategic planning process. It provides the opportunity to clearly and concisely express intent in a story-board format.
2. We have a crisis of character in this country that is underpinned by a culture of blame and hate. A telling statement attributed de Tocqueville, 1829, “America is great because it is good; when it ceases to be good it will cease to be great”. Making America good again is the path to making it great again.
3. Let’s begin with a quick survey. Do you know an Eagle Scout who spent 10 years in the Scout program or someone who spent 6, 8 or 10 years in The First Tee? Most people know at least one. OK, how many of those Eagle Scouts or First Tee kids that you know also dropped out of school? The answer is probably zero. I have asked these questions of groups during many presentations of this concept. I have yet to get a hand raised on the school dropout issue.
What we need to do is figure out why those particular youngsters did not drop out and then find a way to give every student in this country a dose of that same medicine. To get that accomplished, this paper is about three subjects……. Race Relations in America, the US Education System and Character Education.
4. But, first things first. It is necessary to define the problems with race relations and education in America because the problems have not yet been adequately articulated and those who look for solutions without first defining the problem, are usually looking in the wrong places. There are five problems:
Problem # 1, race relations and education are stuck: There is no definitive measure of where we are with respect to race relations in this country. But, events over the past couple years tell us it is not good. In the absence of data to tell us otherwise we can assume we are at least stuck and not getting any better.
Our world rankings in education tells us we are also stuck in a place we do not want to be. Across the country, millions of teens drop out of school or graduate functionally illiterate each year.
We have to take a serious introspective look at race relations and the education system to get them unstuck and moving in a positive direction.
Problem # 2, has to do with the existing culture: Culture is a powerful and pervasive force in every organization and every organization, no matter how large or small, has a culture. Culture is an organization’s personality; caring, hateful, fast, energetic, visionary, risk-taking, vengeful.
A culture of blame and hatred has overtaken our country in politics, bureaucracies, business and society as a whole. Race relations and our education system have also taken on a culture of blame. A culture of blame is so powerful and polarizing that it provides no hope of moving forward until we supplant it with something positive.
Problem #3, is about what kids learn: Babies are not born bigoted, disrespecting or hateful. While growing up they learn it at home, in school, on the playground and on the street. We simply have to change what they learn.
Problem #4, top down programs do not work: The federal government cannot successfully run things; for example, Amtrak, the Post Office, Veterans Administration, the IRS, Federal Housing, all disasters. Since the Federal Government established the Department of Education in 1979, we have seen one failed program after another as each succeeding administration tries to fix education from the top down with hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of bureaucrats. We have to change the way the Federal Government works big problems with more decentralize decision making and execution.
Problem # 5, students get behind: Google tells us that every day 7000 students across this country drop out of school and statistically become a life-time drain and strain on society. Others are allowed to slip through the system and graduate but are actually functionally illiterate.
Looking at my state, North Carolina, as an example, five students enter the ninth grade. One will drop out and not graduate. The four graduates decide to take the test to enter the military. One is determined to be functionally illiterate and fails the test. Why do they drop out and why do they graduate functionally illiterate? Because they got behind.
They got behind a little bit in fourth grade, more in the fifth, more in sixth. At some point, they are near the bottom of their class, frustrated, embarrassed, ridiculed by their peers and they give up and drop out or get passed on by the system until they “graduate” with no skills and little hope.
Think of it this way, if you had a business and only 50, 60 or 70% of your products were up to standard, would you still be in business? No way. If you were running a private school with these results would anyone be paying the tuition? Absolutely not. Then why should we put up with these results?
Over 70% of US young people, ages 17-24, cannot qualify for entry into the military because of education, physically unfit for duty, drug use or a criminal record. A national disgrace.
There are 190 military occupational specialties in the US Army, called MOS. Staying with the North Carolina example, 23% of the high school graduates who want to go into the Army cannot find one of the 190 MOS’s that they can handle and are therefore categorized as functionally illiterate because they lack the cognitive skills to perform the most common of tasks. So how are they going to perform in the local civilian world? Probably not very well.
Inside all this data about drop outs and illiteracy is the base of the problem, they got behind. We have to figure out why and fix it.
5. These five problems have not been properly articulated in this country. The experts talk about, “bringing the community together” to solve race and education problems. But no one seems to be able to describe what coming together means or how it is to be accomplished. Solving these five problems is going to take a long-range strategic plan; a campaign that focuses on the kids.
6. Strategic planning and the Education Organization: Strategic planning is a matter of problem solving and, in its simplest form, is the answers to the questions; who, what, when, where, why and how. Also, strategic planning becomes easier if we can put a frame around the “organization” to gain focus on all the involved parties. For a national campaign to solve the five problems, the Education Organization will consist of the following:
• 142,000 schools
• 180 million adults with children under age 18
• 60 million K-12 students
• 4.5 million teachers
• 2.4 million Home Room volunteers, (more on this later)
• Over 200,000 Superintendents, Principles and Education Board members
That is about 250 million, three of every four Americans, will, in some way, be involved in this campaign.
7. Campaigning: A campaign consists of the actions associated with a strategic plan. The actions associated with solving this nation’s race relations and educational problems are contained in this paper and it is called CAMPAIGN HOME ROOM. A campaign is not a project, a simple plan or something that can be launched and satisfied with a couple of speeches or emails. Campaign Home Room is an all-encompassing, long-term effort that will involve the intellect, innovation and energy of tens of millions of Americans over the next couple of generations.
This Concept of Operations to fix the five problems is not a guessing game. The strength of this concept is that there are existing successful models we can lean on and learn from. A concept of operations begins with the Vision and Mission. While improving race relations and educational results could be separate campaigns, in this Concept of Operations they both feed off the same catalyst, Character Education in the Home Room. Therefore, race relations and the education system are combined in the vision and mission statements.
8. Vision: All strategic planning begins at the end with a clear vision of the end-state. Vision defines where the organization is going. This first step is a must-do because of the truth in the old saying, “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
The VISION for Campaign Home Room is to significantly reduce racial discord in the United States and improve the high school completion rate to at least 95% while dramatically improving literacy.
Ninety five percent may not be the exact number but if feels about right. It just seems to be within the art of the possible given the viability of this campaign.
U.S. public high schools recorded a four-year graduation rate of 80 percent for the 2011-12 school year, an all-time high. Graduation rates vary greatly by state and race. Nationwide, black students graduated at a rate of 69 percent; Hispanics graduated at 73 percent; whites graduated at a rate of 86 percent. However bad the actual numbers are, the question remains, how many of the “graduates” are in fact functionally illiterate?
The graduation target should not be 100% because we do not live in a perfect world. Some will argue that you have to set goals high to motivate people. First, that is not the way you motivate people and in fact all you do is set the organization up for failure if the goal is unattainable.
“Dramatically improve literacy”. Admittedly those are soft words but the factors that will solve the “get behind” problem for dropouts will also have a dramatic effect on raising the literacy rate.
9. Mission is a declaration to everyone in the process (all 250 million parents, teachers, students, education administrators and volunteers) of what it is we are all collectively going to do. It is important that the leader issuing the mission statement knows exactly what the “organization” consists of.
The MISSION is to change the culture of education (students, teachers, leaders and parents) in every US school, K-12, and dramatically reduce racial discord by internalizing a culture of ACCOUNTABILITY, TRUST AND RESPECT in the mind of every student, teacher and parent.
10. Intent is the most powerful tool available to a leader. A leader who uses intent in strategic planning is letting everyone in the organization inside his or her head. Intent answers who, when and why.
a. The overall intent of Campaign Home Room is to call upon and optimize the talent in this country to accomplish the above stated mission. This cannot become a political debate or an issue that will become polarized. If it does, the campaign will absolutely fail. For that reason, this campaign will not require federal or state funds to accomplish the mission.
b. The President of the United States will lead the campaign to keep it on track, seek implementation in every K-12 school (approximately 142,000), and to keep it on a reasonable time-line. The federal Department of Education has a track record of failure. This campaign must be a new and different approach to solving the nation’s severe education problems.
c. The President will work with the fifty Governors, ask them to focus on this campaign every day and visit schools frequently during in-state trips. Decentralized planning and execution will be the responsibility of County and City Boards of Education, Superintendents and school Principals. The intent is to launch this campaign in as many schools as possible at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.
d. Why are we doing this? The pace of improvement in race relations is too slow and disjointed and our high school graduation results are disgusting, disgraceful, unsatisfactory and unbecoming of this great nation.
e. The keys to success will be to successfully impose a set of values in the mind of every student, K-12, in this country over the entire period of time they are students and to use standards-based instruction, K-12.
11. Strategy:
a. In planning jargon, “Vision” describes where we want to go. “Mission” is what we are all going to do. “Intent” from the leader tells us who, when and why.
b. The hardest part of any strategic plan is how we are going to proceed; how, in general terms, we are going to get to the end state. Strategy is the long pole in the tent. Without a solid strategy, all we have is empty rhetoric. Unfortunately, many times (particularly by federal bureaucrats) the strategy is left out of the planning process and without the “how” the process just flounders and ultimately fails. The concept of operations, articulated in the following pages, describes how we can and should proceed to achieve the desired end state.
12. Changing culture:
a. As pointed out earlier, culture exists in every organization and it is a powerful and pervasive force.
b. What does culture have to do with race relations in this country? Everything. Start by thinking of White America and Black America as two different organizations. The one word that describes both of their cultures today is blame (para 4, Problem # 2). There is nothing positive about a culture of blame. Race relations are stuck in place because blame offers no hope of moving forward. It is unproductive. It results only in finger pointing. Sides become polarized. That is what has happened to White and Black America.
c. The culture has to change if we are to have any chance of improving race relations. If you attempt to change the culture of any organization, you have to find the answers to these four questions:
First question: Can you describe your culture? It is not easy but the answer is yes you can. It takes honest introspective work, but it is doable.
Second question: Now that you have defined the culture, is it what you want it to be? No. No matter how successful the organization is, we do not live in a perfect world and there is always room for improvement.
Third question: What do you want the culture to be? Now we are looking for commitment throughout the organization; for example, commitment to a culture of accountability, respect and trust.
Final question: How are you going to go about creating and sustaining the culture you want? In this case the answer is in Campaign Home Room.
d. There is an existing model for a successful organizational culture. Those who have served in the US military know that it is the best racially integrated and most admired organization in this country, (verified for decades in an annual Gallop Poll). Through generations of work the military has become an organization with a culture of accountability, trust and respect.
At this point critics are quick to point out, “That is all well and good for the Military but these are civilians and you can’t just order civilians around like you can the military.” Yes, the military is different. In fact, no two organizations are the same and the way you approach the solution for each organization will differ. But that does not mean the model is wrong or will not work. It can work and that same culture that serves the military and many other organizations can also serve this nation.
e. As pointed out in Problem # 3, white and black babies are not born hating, disrespecting or blaming each other. They learn it at home, at school, on the playground and on the streets. Youngsters who are committed to youth organizations such as Scouting, The First Tee, Boys and Girls Clubs avoid joining gangs or becoming bigoted because they have developed a positive value base. They have learned accountability, they trust each other and respect authority. But these great programs only touch a fraction of the kids. We have to teach values to every youngster in the United States for generations to come.
f. The student drop-out rate across the United States (about 7000 per day) is a national disgrace. In order to change the dismal educational results, we have to change the culture of the students; the culture of how teachers think about standards; the culture of leadership among education administrators; and the culture of parental involvement in the education of their children. This is a tall order but the good news is that we can use the Campaign Home Room program, retired military personnel and other volunteers as the catalysts for this program as well as that of improving race relations.
13. Home Room: Reinstitute Home Room in every school. Home Room is a forgotten piece of Americana. Home Room is the center of gravity for this campaign. A center of gravity can be a place, person, thing or circumstance. Once defined the center of gravity is CENTRAL to the success of the campaign.
a. The first 30 minutes of every school day in every school, K-12, will be Home Room. The subject matter will be ACCOUNTABILITY, CITIZENSHIP, COMMITMENT, COMPASSION, COURAGE OF CONVICTIONS, COURTESY, CONFIDENCE, HEALTHY HABITS, HONESTY, HONOR, HUMILITY, INTEGRITY, JUDGMENT, LEADERSHIP, MORALITY, PERSEVERANCE, PUNCTUALITY, RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, SELF-RESPECT, SELFLESS SERVICE, SPORTSMANSHIP AND TRUST. That is, teach and talk about values. Call it the Character Curriculum. There will need to be three versions of the curriculum; elementary K-5, middle school 6-8 and high school 9-12. Out of this will come an overpowering culture of ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPECT AND TRUST.
b. Structure each Home Room with a cross section of the class population. For example, visualize a school that has 75 new kindergarten students entering school in August, twenty-five kids per class. Populate each Home Room with students from each of the three classes. During the following 13 years, some youngsters will move away and some new ones will come in; but for the most part that Home Room group will stay together until graduation. That is part of the power of the Home Room concept.
In many large schools a student may not even know all of their “classmates” but they sure will know their Home Room mates. They will get to know them like brothers and sisters. They will have deep feelings and respect for their Home Room mates. Over time Home Rooms will have names, mascots, tee-shirts, a website, competition with other Home Rooms, an unshakable identity, peer pressure and peer support. “I have your back” will become an unspoken pledge from each to all. The Home Room will become powerful, effective and it is free. A game changer.
c. In this day and age of peer pressure to join a gang the Home Room can, from kindergarten on, provide an alternative. For every student, their Home Room can become their “gang” throughout their elementary and secondary education years. Every student in the United States will have a small group they can identify with and turn to for peer support.
d. Bullying has always been a problem for youngsters and seemingly more so today with the availability of social media. Home Room will bring bullying to its knees in two different ways. First of all, every student will now know that their Home Room gang has their back. The students will look after each other and protect one another. Secondly, one of the most powerful subjects in the Home Room Character Curriculum is respect.
By their very nature, bullies do not respect others or authority. With respect imprinted on the soul of every youngster and emphasized day after day, year after year throughout their student careers, it is doubtful that bullying will even be a mentionable problem in the future.
e. Truancy is an enormous problem in this country and is the super highway to dropping out of school. With the bond built among a group of Home Room kids over the years it will not be easy to bring one’s self to skip school. Accountability will become a powerful way of life for every student.
f. Home Room does not require funding. Personnel on the educational payroll will not lead or teach Home Room. It will be done by volunteers and we will need a lot of them. If the average size Home Room is 25 students, we will have about 2.4 million Home Room classes in session every school day.
Just imagine the impact Campaign Home Room can have with 60 million youngsters having a substantive discussion about one of the subjects in the Character Curriculum every school day and then adjourning to their class rooms to live/be/do/demonstrate those values. How powerful is that?
g. How do we find and train 2.4 million volunteers? The essence of this campaign is decentralized execution. Each individual school Principal will be responsible for finding a handful of volunteers and that should not be a problem. For example, there are approximately 76 million Baby Boomers retiring at a rate of about 10,000 per day and many are looking for something interesting, meaningful, and challenging to do in retirement.
Tap in to local organizations and churches for help: Kiwanis, Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, VFW, American Legion, AARP, Shriners, Country Clubs, etc. Get them to sponsor a school and provide all the Home Room instructors. Easy to do and retirees bring a wealth of knowledge and experience for the mentoring of youngsters.
Additionally, there are almost two million retired military men and women across the country. They all have three things in common: they are proven leaders, they are teachers and they have spent their professional lives in a fully integrated and value-based organization in which they operated daily immersed in a culture of ACCOUNTABILITY, TRUST AND RESPECT. They have the perfect skill set to administer the Home Room Character Curriculum.
h. Teachers and administrators should be seated in the back of the room observing the Home Room instruction/discussion. Why? The power of the program is that the students will take the values from the Home Room to the classroom if they are prompted all day to do so. In an independent four-year study, 100% of The First Tee participants identified school as a setting in which the character training transferred positively (see enclosure 2).
How powerful can the classroom become if it is constantly reinforced with discussions about accountability, citizenship, commitment, compassion, courage of convictions, confidence, courtesy, healthy habits, honesty, honor, humility, integrity, judgment, leadership, morality, perseverance, punctuality, respect, responsibility, self-respect, selfless service, sportsmanship and trust?
i. With respect to improving race relations, our children are currently learning hate and disrespect. This campaign will supplant that with a positive curriculum of accountability, trust and respect taught and discussed in Home Room and carried forward to the classroom, playground, sports field, streets and home.
j. High school graduation rates: Our kids are currently falling behind because of the lack of standards from grade to grade and because they do not have the positive reinforcement that will come from the Home Room Character Curriculum. Having one’s soul imprinted with the values of accountability, courage, punctuality and perseverance for years and years will dissuade that student from falling behind.
Additionally, over the years the bond with one’s Home Room will become so strong that the student thinking about dropping out of school will not want to face and disappoint their Home Room gang. “I will keep up and I will not give up” will become their mantra. When times get tough their Home Room friends will provide the necessary support system.
14. EDUCATION WITHOUT STANDARDS IS A FAILED SYSTEM; EDUCATION WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY IS A FAILED SYSTEM. WE HAVE A FAILED SYSTEM:
a. Every August a fifth-grade teacher should have a reasonable expectation that his or her new students will have achieved what is expected of a fourth-grade graduate. Without specified standards for end of year grade four, some students will inevitably pass on to the fifth grade deficient in math, for example. Once behind, it is more likely that they will fall further behind each succeeding year until such time, usually in high school, that student will feel so hopelessly behind they will take the only alternative they foresee……DROP OUT OF SCHOOL AND STATISTICALLY BECOME A BURDEN ON SOCIETY.
b. Historical precedent: Following the Vietnam War the US Army lost its way for a short period of time. Leadership and readiness were in question. Every honest evaluation indicated the Army was not as good as it should/could/must be. Through the use of, and emphasis on, carefully defined standards for every individual as well as collective standards for every leader at every level from a team to a corps, the Army clearly defined the end-state for every individual and unit on a specified time line. It is very easy to compare the US Army of 1975, in size and importance, to the nation’s education system today. It took an all-encompassing campaign and a generation to fix the Army but the achieved end state was a masterpiece.
c. The campaign to fix the Army in the 1980’s and 90’s was successful because the identification of, and emphasis on, standards was underpinned by total adherence to the character trait of accountability. Every individual soldier and every leader was held accountable for being able to perform every assigned task to a defined standard. No different than what we can foresee for students, teachers, Principals, Superintendents, and parents in the United States Educational Organization.
d. Applying standards and accountability to education makes the teaching game-plan simple to define. It begins with the identification of an end state standard for a particular time period. For example, there should be a standard for the end of first semester fourth grade math. Given that standard the teacher will then develop a week-by-week lesson plan to achieve that end standard with every student. Teach to a standard, then test. Teach to the next level, then test again. And so it goes week after week for 13 years, K-12. The concept is simple and there will be no need for hundreds of pages of regulations, frequent recurring reports, no need for legions of bureaucrats providing oversight and requirements for national testing.
e. How do we establish the standards? It is not difficult; it can be done quickly and does not require any bureaucrats, regulations or tax dollars to do it. Here are the steps to take, for example at the State level, led by the Governor.
• The governor will set up a one-month session during Phase 1 of the campaign. He will invite selected teachers and Principals to a working session to establish education standards.
• On day one there will be a meeting of three experienced outstanding Kindergarten teachers and three equally outstanding elementary school Principles. Their task is to define what every Kindergarten student should achieve by school year end; that is, the end state standard. Having done that, they will then outline, in general terms, what to achieve during each of the six-week intervals on the way to the end state. That’s it, they are done. The kindergarten standards are set. Every elementary school Principal and kindergarten teacher in the state will then work to achieve that standard.
• Three especially selected first-grade teachers and three elementary Principles will have set in and observed the day-one session with the Kindergarten teachers and will have a clear understanding of what the students will have achieved upon graduation from kindergarten. Then on day two, they will follow the same scenario to define the standards for end of year, first grade.
• This scenario will be repeated through grade five so that in just six days the elementary standards can be set for K-5.
• The middle school standards for individual subjects (math, science, English, history, etc.) will be worked the same way, each beginning by understanding the end state from the previous grade.
• The standards for high school will be determined using the same procedures.
• This work should be easily accomplished within 4-6 weeks. Contrast this with a scenario if the federal or state Department of Education was tasked to define the standards. There would undoubtedly be a contract let for a comprehensive multi-year study that would cost tens of millions of dollars and would result in a thousand-page document of bureaucratic nonsense. That is just the way big government does business, making them habitually part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
• In all likelihood, this standards selection process will need to be repeated in two or three years. The reason is that when students of all ages are subjected, day-in and day-out, to character training and discussion of commitment, confidence, perseverance, punctuality, responsibility and self-respect they are going to change. They will absolutely become better students. They will be more attentive. They will develop a greater appetite for knowledge. In other words, we will need to raise the bar; increase the degree of difficulty of the standards. The United States will no longer be ranked 20th, 30th or 40th in education in the world.
f. In order to achieve the standards every year, every class, every teacher the teaching methodology is a simple one; teach/test, teach/test, teach/test. In any other system, how are you going to know when a student gets behind? Remember, THE SOLUTION TO THE DROP-OUT PROBLEM IS TO NOT LET STUDENTS GET BEHIND.
g. In the teach-then-test scenario, every Thursday should be quiz day. If a student performs poorly on the quiz, they need an immediate fix because at that point they have fallen behind and what follows during the next week’s instruction will be even more difficult to understand and the student will fall further behind. At that point the student may have just pulled onto the drop-out-of-school super highway. A student who does poorly on the Thursday quiz needs to work the weekend to catch up. That’s where changing the culture of parental involvement and student attitude fits into the equation.
h. The first parent/teacher conference cannot be after the first 6 or 9 weeks of class. That meeting needs to take place the week before the semester begins to lay out the “contract.” The teacher teaches and tests. The teacher informs the parents and student immediately when the student falls behind. The student and the parents have the weekend to catch up. A lazy student will soon realize that studying on weekends is a lot worse than putting forth the effort during school days. And so it goes for every teacher, every student and every parent week after week, K-12. Simple and effective. But without the verbal contract among the three, teaching to standards is just another catch phrase.
i. The weekly quiz regime is of course followed by more comprehensive testing at the 6 or 9-week periods and at the end of each semester. A failing student at semester’s end should enter an intense 1 or 2-week period of instruction and then be retested. Summer school for students who have fallen behind should become the norm.
j. Education without accountability is a failed system. So where does accountability fit into this equation?
• Every Governor should be held accountable for establishing standards, using the procedures outlined in para 14e above.
• The Principal must be held accountable for aligning every school year start point with the end state standard from the previous year. The Principal will have to review, in detail, the lesson plan for every teacher, every class, every grade. After all, isn’t that what the Principal is supposed to do?
• Every teacher must be held accountable for building a lesson plan to achieve the standard and not let the students fall behind in route to the end state.
• Every teacher must be held accountable for using the weekly teach/test methodology and then following up with parents of a student who has fallen behind.
• Parents are advised during discussions of the four-way contract that they are going to be held accountable for weekend work if their son or daughter gets behind.
• Finally, the students. They are going to get a heavy dose of accountability during their Home Room character instruction. As accountability begins to be a way of life for them, the entire process become easy and second nature.
• What will happen with this process is a complete transition of the education culture in America. A culture of accountability will supplant that of blame which exists today and restricts all possibilities of moving forward.
k. See enclosure 1: Teaching, testing and the four-way contract.
15. Leadership in educational institutions:
a. Having competent leaders in our school system is of course very important. All great leaders have developed a skill-set over years of study, mentoring and experience. Unfortunately, many teachers rarely have the opportunity to develop these important leadership skills. It does not mean they are not good teachers but it does mean they may lack the skills to be effective when promoted into positions of leadership such as Principals or Superintendents.
b. There is a source for educational leaders that is being ignored. Annually the Defense Department retires thousands of men and women who have just finished 20-25 years of service, are looking for a second career and all have four things in common. 1) They are proven leaders. 2) They have years of experience teaching and training. 3) They all understand standards and have spent two decades living up to those standards. 4) And perhaps most importantly, they have served in a totally integrated inter-racial environment with an overarching value base of ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPECT AND TRUST. What more could one ask for in a person to lead and mentor teachers and students? Every state should remove all obstacles that restrict retired military personnel from applying for and moving directly into leadership positions in our school system.
16. Template best practices:
a. This concept of operations provides the basics for Home Room operations. But we all know that after implementation there will be a plethora of new good ideas. Home Rooms will have names, T-shirts and competition with other Home Rooms. Community service may become a traditional Home Room activity for high school students. Some schools will reward outstanding high school seniors by having them partner with the Home Room volunteers to teach and discuss the Character Curriculum. Some schools will use the best and brightest high school students to tutor struggling students whose parents are unable or incapable of tutoring their children. The list goes on and on and is only limited by imagination.
b. At some point, perhaps in the sixth grade, a Home Room student will suggest to her mates that they challenge the other Home Rooms to a grade-point-average competition. At that point that school has just reached the Promised Land.
c. Innovation has been the lifeblood of this nation since its inception. Whatever Home Room function is found to work in one community must be templated and shared. Each Governor should have a Campaign Home Room website set up to publish innovative ideas and best practices. The website will serve as the vehicle to rapidly spread the word to other school leaders.
17. Maximum centralized planning, maximum decentralized execution:
a. Since the establishment of the federal Department of Education in 1979 there has been program after program passed down to the states and counties by the federal government. Additionally, every presidential candidate since then has campaigned on a pledge to improve education. It has not and will not happen as long as the process is so politicized and frequently changed. POLICY DRIVEN, TOP DOWN SOLUTIONS OVERSEEN BY MASSES OF BUREAUCRATS HAS NOT WORKED IN THE PAST AND WILL NOT WORK GOING FORWARD.
b. For Campaign Home Room, centralized planning is by the President and Governors and those they have chosen to assist with implementing phase 1 of the campaign. Maximum decentralized execution is from the County/City Board of Education Chairperson on down through the Superintendent to the school Principals. There is no requirement for thick pamphlets dictating rules, regulations and reporting requirements; this concept of operations is the basic plan.
c. Maximum centralized planning with maximum centralized regulation is a loser, especially for education. Maximum centralized planning, maximum decentralized execution is a proven model because it pushes the decision-making down closest to the point of execution.
d. With decentralized execution of Campaign Home Room, the local county/city populace will soon come to understand that the accountable officers, the Superintendent and the School Principals, are right there in their community and are not some nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington DC. The Superintendent and the local school Principal can be approached, talked to and debated. What happens next is that the Superintendents who are weak leaders and the Principals who can’t plan will be replaced by leaders who can and will deliver high school graduates in greater numbers and those who do graduate will have the cognitive skills necessary to be productive citizens.
18. Campaign Home Room and The First Tee Linkage:
a. The First Tee is a national non-profit organization devoted to teaching the Nine Core Values (respect, honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment), Nine Healthy Habits and introduction to the game of golf.
b. The First Tee is a proven model for character development and has for the past 20 years activated about 200 chapters across the nation. In so doing The First Tee has transformed the lives of millions of students in terms of their academic achievements, their respect for their teachers and becoming model young citizens. The First Tee is a non-profit organization that relies on tens of thousands of willing and dedicated volunteers to teach values and the game of golf.
c. The First Tee is also integrated into approximately 8000 elementary schools, nation-wide, in what they call the National School Program (NSP). Physical Education teachers receive training on character education and golf instruction and then teach NSP using age-appropriate golf equipment.
d. The First Tee National School Program is a perfect fit with Campaign Home Room because it provides the character education linkage between the Home Room and the classroom. While NSP is currently in some schools in every state, it could be added to remaining elementary schools whenever Campaign Home Room is activated, at a one-time equipment/training cost of $4000 per school.
To cover the $4000 per school cost, as part of Campaign Home Room, Phase 1, the Governors could seek a one-time funding coalition from the corporate sector. An alternative is for a community to find a sponsor or sponsors for each elementary school. For example, the one-time $4000 fee for a school could be paid by a church, a country club, the Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, the local Ford dealer. The possibilities for finding sponsors are endless.
e. The First Tee mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.
f. Character training works. What is important to understand is that The First Tee has already provided proof of concept for character training for the past twenty years; it is their mission. We do not need to debate whether or not the Campaign Home Room concept for character education will be successful. We do not need a trial balloon; we just need to execute.
g. The First Tee sanctioned a four-year study to determine the effectiveness of their character training program. In each of the four years of the study, 100% of the participating students identified school as the setting in which character training transferred positively into better school work.
h. When a student transfers 100% of what they understand about confidence, responsibility and perseverance into their classroom work, they do not get behind and they do not drop out.
i. See enclosure 2: The First Tee National School Program and Character Training Effectiveness Study Results.
19. Defining campaign failure: The four potential enemies of this campaign are politics, the not-invented-here crowd, bureaucratic oversight and impatience.
a. RE: Politics: If this campaign becomes a Democrat vs Republican political pawn, it will crumble and fail. Therefore, each succeeding President and Governor, in turn, must see the long-range value of this program and keep it on track without federal or state funding.
b. RE: Not-invented-here: In every campaign, there are those persons and organizations that believe if something was not their idea then it most certainly cannot be of much value. Defeat the not-invented-here crowd with fast action and wide-spread support for the campaign.
c. RE: Bureaucratic oversight: This is not a program that needs a mass of federal or state regulations, rules and reporting requirements. Keep Campaign Home Room in its simplest form and execute from the County/City Board of Education level down.
d. RE: Impatience: The campaign will certainly yield improvement in the first two or three years but it must be understood that, generally speaking, this is a generational campaign. After one complete cycle of K-12 the results, the transforming of this nation, will be astounding.
20. Launching Campaign Home Room in four phases:
a. Phase 1 is the centralized planning phase at the federal level from January, 2019 to the beginning of school year 2019-20.
NOTE: THE CALENDAR DATES FOR THE PHASES DISCUSSED HERE ARE BASED ON A DECISION IN THE FALL OF 2018 TO ADOPT THIS CONCEPT WITH FULL EXECUTION IN SCHOOLS ABOUT 20 MONTHS LATER. THE POINT BEING, WHENEVER THE PRESIDENT OR GOVERNOR OR COUNTY/CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION DECIDES TO TAKE THIS ON, THEY CAN USE THIS PHASING SCHEDULE BY JUST MOVING THE DATES TO THE RIGHT.
The senior leader of any large organization will spend a great deal of their time building consensus for strategic campaigns. It will be critical for the President to do so as early as possible for this campaign. Governors, minority leaders, educators and legislators must all get briefed and brought on board during phase 1.
b. Phases 1 and 2 overlap. Phase 2 begins when each Governor becomes active at the state level after meeting with the President. Phases 1 and 2 end August, 2019.
c. Phase 3 begins August, 2019 and is one year long. During this phase the County Boards of Education, Superintendents and school Principals will undertake the detailed decentralized planning actions outlined in this Concept of Operations.
d. Phase 4 begins decentralized execution of Campaign Home Room, August 2020, hopefully in every school in America.
e. See enclosure 3 for accountable leaders and specific actions to be taken during each phase.
21. Why execute Campaign Home Room on this 2019-20 schedule?
a. There will likely be opposition to the Campaign by those who do not understand it; those who are not forward looking; those who believe that if it was not their idea, it can’t possibly be a good one; those who are fearful of change; and those who will not accept the success of Character Education in organizations such as The First Tee.
b. One of the advantages of Campaign Home Room is that it will transition to Phase 3, decentralized planning, and be in the hands of County/City Boards of Education and Superintendents before the opposition can get its act together.
22. Accountable Leaders:
a. The President will be overall lead. His/her principle responsibility is to shape the environment by bringing all the Governors on board and building consensus among all the constituencies involved throughout the nation.
b. The Secretary of Education will advocate nationally for the program throughout 2019 and 2020 in phases 1, 2 and 3.
c. Governors will embrace the program, build consensus among Superintendents, educators, minority leaders, legislators and then quickly decentralize to the local Boards of Education.
d. The State Board of Education Chairperson and the State Superintendent of Schools will actively advocate for state-wide buy-in of Campaign Home Room during phases 2 and 3.
e. The local Board of Education Chairpersons, Superintendents and Principals are the accountable leaders for Phase 3, detailed decentralized planning.
f. School Principals are accountable leaders for Phase 4, sustained execution.
23. That’s strategic planning: who, what, when, where, why and how:
Who: the entire “education organization”; students, parents, teachers, administrators and volunteers; all 250 million of them.
What: dramatically improve education and race relations while transforming America.
When: begin now and look long-range into the future; a generational campaign.
Where: in all 142,000 K-12 schools in America.
Why: because our culture is broken and we must learn to be “good” again.
How: character education to every student, every class, every school, every day. Standards-based accountable education. See paragraphs 12 through 22 above.
24. Conclusions:
a. This campaign can change the nation, from the bottom up, for generations to come. There are historical precedents in the US military and character-building organizations such as The First Tee that prove the validity of the concept.
b. Standards and accountability are an unbeatable combination that will keep youngsters in school until they graduate from high school with the tools to be successful at institutions of higher learning or to begin a successful civilian or military career.
c. Standards is the only teaching method that makes complete sense because it brings together the accountability of students, teachers, parents and educational leaders. Teachers teach but the question always left hanging is, did the students “get it?” The only way to answer that question is through a continuous regimen of weekly testing. Weekly quiz/test, K-12, provides a pattern of teach/test, teach/test that requires everyone (teachers, students, parents and educational leaders) to be continuously engaged and accountable.
d. The power of the Character Curriculum being discussed with every student in every Home Room every day for 13 years, K-12, results in the following:
• Accountable students do not resort to blame.
• Students who are steeped in commitment, confidence, perseverance, punctuality and responsibility do not skip school, fall behind or drop out.
• Students who are deeply rooted in trust and respect will strike down bullying and are unlikely to become racially bigoted adults. And they will believe the famous words of Martin Luther King, “……they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
• Students who are compassionate, courteous, honorable, good citizens and demonstrate the courage of their convictions do not join street gangs.
• Students who have accepted honesty, morality and integrity as their guiding light will likely be life-long upstanding citizens.
• Students who understand, live and accept a life of selfless service are unlikely to become self-serving adults.
• Students who have an understanding that there is a lot they don’t yet know and even part of what they believe they know might be incorrect, have the quality of humility.
• Students who understand self-respect recognize that they are now better than they used to be and can be counted on in times of temptation because they are morally dependable.
• With this value base, students across the nation are more likely to exercise good judgment and become great leaders.
e. Home Room will make every youngster a better student and a better person. KEEPING UP BECOMES IMPORTANT. DROPPING OUT BECOMES UNTHINKABLE.
f. There is a natural “fit” between Campaign Home Room and the National School Program run by The First Tee.
g. This campaign fixes the five problems effecting race relations and education in the United States:
• Problem # 1: Race relations and education are stuck: Character Education is transformational and will facilitate moving forward.
• Problem # 2: We are consumed by a culture of blame and hate: Character Education substitutes blame with accountability, a powerful and all-consuming value. Character education substitutes hate with respect and trust.
• Problem # 3: Kids are learning how to hate and be disrespectful: Character Education teaches them just the opposite every school day for 13 years.
• Problem # 4: Top-down programs with stifling bureaucratic oversight have failed and will continue to fail: Accountable leadership will be decentralized at the point of execution.
• Problem #5: Students drop out or graduate functionally illiterate because they got behind: Standards-based instruction and the “four-way contract” will prevent this from happening
h. Any organization that wants to be successful will have underpinnings that includes some or all of the following.
• Take the long view.
• Decentralized decision making and execution.
• Focused accountability at the point of execution.
• Racial integration that emanates from a value base of trust and respect.
• A transformational culture of accountability, trust and respect.
This entire combination provides a winning formula for drastically improving education and race relations in the United States.
25. Bottom line:
a. Education: What has been done for the past 35 years (hundreds of billions of dollars spent on federal and state programs overseen be thousands of bureaucrats administering thousands of pages of rules, regulations and reporting requirements) has not worked. Education in the US is still a national disgrace. This can and must be changed.
b. Race relations: On 31 August, 2015 black and white protesters marched outside the Minnesota State Fair Grounds. Their chant, “Black lives matter, pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.” At other locations, “What do we want? Dead Cops; when do we want them? Now.” This is not what America has been about for most of its history, but it is where we are today.
c. This is a voluntary program at the local level and there will be some dissent. Teachers unions will say there isn’t enough time. Some will argue the volunteers will not be qualified. A few will believe character education is a waste of time. They will all be proven wrong and when word of the value added begins to spread across the nation, parents will demand their School Board sign on to the program.
d. The shortest list in this country is a list of youngsters who spent ten years as a Boy/Girl Scout or with The First Tee and then dropped out of school. They didn’t stay in school because they learned to tie a knot, pitch a tent or grip a golf club, they stayed in school and excelled because of the character training they received.
e. Implementation of this concept of operations will make students believe in the following: I WILL KEEP UP AND I WILL NOT GIVE UP.
f. Just for a moment imagine, across this country, 60 million K-12 youngsters in 2.4 million Home Room classes at 8 o’clock every morning in every school in America being taught and mentored by 2.4 million volunteers on the subject of character. Campaign Home Room is within the art of the possible and “we the people”, not we the government, can make it happen and change America.
g. “We the people”, those first three important words of the US Constitution, we the people have to start over. We have to begin with the kids; little kids. And “we the people” have to work it hard for a generation. If goodness, and hence greatness, is to be regained for this country, it will be accomplished one person at a time through character education.
26. Final thoughts: This concept is valid; however, that does not mean all 50 states or all of the county/city boards of education are going to sign up for Campaign Home Room the first year. Some Governors initially will see this as a Republican issue, politize it and decline to participate. Initially, some Boards of Education will shy away from change out of fear or ignorance, and they will opt out. Some Principals, initially, because they are incompetent, will make a token effort, fail and declare the concept invalid.
But education is an issue near and dear to the hearts of the 180 million parents and guardians who have a youngster living with them who is under the age of 18. Conversations among family and friends across county and state lines frequently contain questions like: “how are the kids doing in school?” “How are the schools in your area?” “Do the kids have good teachers?”
These conversations will take place many times over the next few years and they will be between families whose children are beginning each school day with a dose of character education and those who are not. Character education has an immediate, definable, positive impact on children; particularly on their school work; attitude, perseverance, attention, courtesy, accountability.
The “have” parents will begin to use the word, “transformational” when describing their kids’ educational environment. The “have not” parents will begin to ask, “why don’t our schools have character education?” And when they do begin to ask the hard questions, they will not be addressing some nameless bureaucrat in Washington, they will look to the Principal, the Education Board members they voted for or the Governor they voted for. Social media will move character education through the nation’s conscience like a raging wild fire.
The positive changes in student behavior resulting directly from character education will manifest themselves early and profoundly. Within a couple years after phase four of Campaign Home Room is initiated, the bottom-up pressure will mount and eventually the whole country will be on board.
Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army (retired), is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.
Enclosure 1: Teaching, Testing and the Four-Way Contract.
Enclosure 2: The First Tee National School Program and Character Training Effectiveness Study Results.
Enclosure 3: Campaign Planning and Execution, Phases 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Enclosure 1, Teaching, testing and the four-way contract.
1. The purpose of this enclosure it to discuss a teaching/testing methodology that is simple and will work to the advantage of Principals, teachers, parents and students.
2. Federally mandated standardized testing has failed. Top-down programs in general have not been successful in pulling the nation’s education system out of its malaise.
3. If a student does poorly on an end-of-year standardized test, how does the teacher, parent or student recover? There is no way to recoup the teaching time. Once a student is behind, it may be impossible for them to catch up and they will be on the super highway to becoming a high school dropout. We need a fresh, simple approach executed at the local level that places the emphasis on standards and never allowing a student to fall behind.
4. Here is a scenario that should be played out in every subject, in every school in the United States. This example will use the subject of mathematics in an elementary school, K-5.
a. The States will mandate the standards for every subject at the end of elementary school (K-5th grade), middle school (7-8th grade) and high school (9-12th grade). See paragraph 14 of the Concept paper.
b. Given that standard, the Principals in every elementary school will require their teachers to provide a 2-page, week-by-week outline of their proposed math curriculum for each semester. This begins with the kindergarten teacher’s lesson plan on how to count from one to ten and ends with fractions in 5th grade.
c. It is each school Principal’s responsibility to ensure that the teachers’ outlines for end-of-year 3rd grade math is exactly in synch with the 4th grade math teachers’ outlines for week one. And so it goes for every subject, K-5 in that school.
d. Once the school year has begun every Principal should spend at least one hour per day in the back of a classroom. For example, prior to attending the class the Principal will pull the outline for Ms. Jones’ 4th grade math and note what she should be teaching in the 7th week of the academic year. If she is ahead or behind her outline plan, she needs to explain why to her boss.
e. If a Principal is not prepared to execute what is required in paragraph c and d above, they should be replaced.
f. Parent/teacher interface. The first parent/teacher conference should be before the first day of school. If it takes place after the first six or nine-week period, it may be too late to recover for a poorly performing student. At the conference, the teacher will provide parents or guardians with a copy of the 2-page outline of instruction. The teacher will also discuss what each player (teacher, parent, student) is responsible for on a weekly basis.
g. Good teachers have a feel for how their students are receiving the material. But the question hangs out there, did every student “get it?” there is only one way to know for sure, give them a quiz, every week. Remember there is a two-pronged objective for this program. 1) Achieve the end-state standard and 2) don’t let a student get behind.
h. Every Thursday is quiz-day in every classroom in the country. The students and parents know this. A quiz is simple and only takes a few minutes. The teacher will check the work and on Friday send home a report to the parents. Every student, every subject, every week and the parents are expecting it.
The “report” can be a simple 3×5 card or an email to the parents with a quiz grade…A, B, C, D or F. If a student in 5th grade math gets a D or F that student is behind. The 3×5 report card/email will tell the parents to work with their child over the weekend using pages 40-48 in the text book, prepare a quiz at home and get their child caught up with the class and ready to move forward.
i. It is human nature that after a couple weekends lost to studying, the parents and students will be more focused on keeping up during the week of instruction and doing well on the Thursday quiz.
j. At the end of the six or nine-week grading periods and at semester end there will be more comprehensive testing.
k. It is easy to conclude that students who perform poorly in school often do not receive the necessary support at home.
Not every teacher/student/parent “contract” is going to work perfectly. A proactive Principal will have put together a large stable of volunteer tutors who will show up after school and on Saturday mornings to work with students who need help.
5. The center of gravity of this program is accountability. The Principal is accountable for leading the program and aligning it to the State’s standards. The teacher is accountable for delivering a standards-based lesson plan on a week-by-week basis and communicating with the parents. The students’ accountability is measured every Thursday. Parents’ accountability is to sign up for the contract and step up when their child stumbles.
6. Conclusions:
a. Instead of being hopelessly mired in debates about devoting valuable class time to “teaching the federal standardized test”, schools can concentrate on testing what was taught each week and keeping every student caught up. I WILL KEEP UP AND I WILL NOT GIVE UP.
b. The education “organization”: There will be about 250 million parents, students, educators, volunteers and administrators involved in this “contract”.
c. There will be no requirement for teacher re-training.
d. This program is simple and every Superintendent, Principal, teacher, student and parent will understand their role. Rather than spend billions of dollars to administer federal programs that have not and will not work, education can excel at the school-house level and Campaign Home Room is free.
e. As a State Lieutenant Governor said to me recently, “How have we hired tens of thousands of bureaucrats and spent hundreds of billions of dollars on education in this country and left out the most important part, Character Education?”
Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army (Retired), is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders
Enclosure 2: The First Tee
-National School Program
-Character Training Effectiveness Study Results.
1. The First Tee mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.
2. The First Tee National School Program introduces the game of golf, First Tee Nine Core Values and Nine Healthy Habits to elementary students, K-5, during physical education classes. Currently active in more than 8,000 US elementary schools, this program creates an environment wherein young people are introduced to a lifelong sport while simultaneously developing value-based character.
a. Physical education teachers receive professional development training and are provided age-appropriate materials, junior golf lesson plans, and equipment for effective integration into their existing physical education programs.
b. The K-5 curriculum centers on four areas: 1) positive introduction to a lifelong sport; 2) motor skills and concept learning; 3) character education (activity based), including The Nine Core Values, personal and social responsibility; and 4) developmental approach to teaching and learning.
c. There are approximately 95,000 elementary schools in the United States; only about 6% have implemented the National School Program. This is a perfect fit with Campaign Home Room; the National School Program could be added to the remaining elementary schools by the beginning of school year 2020-21.
d. The President could include in the Campaign Home Room vision to have the National Schools Program in all elementary schools. The one-time cost for remaining schools is $4,000 per school. The cost is very reasonable to get every elementary school student continually engaged in activity based, character education.
As part of Campaign Home Room, Phase 1, President Trump and the Governors could seek a funding coalition from the corporate sector or from a personal contribution from a wealthy family (for example, the Gates Foundation) to cover the entire cost in each State.
An alternative is for a community to find a sponsor or sponsors for each elementary school. For example, the one-time $4000 fee for a school could be paid by a church, a country club, the Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, the local Ford dealer. The possibilities are endless to find sponsors.
e. Testimonials: “The values my students have learned through the National School Program have that factor of carry over into their lives as productive citizens of society. It has become real and meaningful to them and they are able to understand and tell you what these values really mean and how it has affected them in other areas of their lives.” Robin Randolph, Union Elementary, Brunswick County Schools, Shallotte, NC
“These nine words [The First Tee Nine Core Values] have become part of our P.E. vocabulary. I have noticed a lot less pouting and more perseverance when a new skill is introduced. Honesty in games is also more prevalent because the children understand that they do not want to lose their integrity.” Shann Griffin, R.D. Head Elementary, Gwinnett County School District, Lilburn, GA
3. Character Training Effectiveness Study Results.
a. Young people do not automatically act with integrity or demonstrate sportsmanship. The acquisition of values is often a by-product of a series of complex processes that evolve from individuals’ experiences. The First Tee Life Skills Experience teaches participants a set of skills to allow them to face challenges at home, school and play in a constructive manner.
b. This desire to understand how character training impacts young people prompted The First Tee to sanction a study by an outside group of highly qualified researchers. It began in 2003 with a snapshot look at the program with the following results:
Communications skills…..74% positive, 24% no change, 2% negative
Confidence.……………………76% positive, 22% no change, 2% negative
Responsibility…………………74% positive, 24% no change, 2% negative
School grades………….……..52% positive, 44% no change, 4% negative
Social skills………………………66% positive, 30% no change, 4% negative
c. With these impressive results The First Tee sanctioned a four-year study, 2005-2008 with the following findings:
73% of The First Tee participants were retained from year one to year four of the research. This retention rate is impressive given the average dropout rate per year is about 50% in other youth organizations.
Year one: Character training impacts the lives of students quickly. During year one the participants declared there was a positive life skill transfer to school work (100%), a job (35%), friends (60%), activities (30%), family (85%) and sports (70%).
Year two: After the second year The First Tee participants were compared to youth in after-school activities without a life skills curriculum. The First Tee youth scored higher than the comparison group on use of general life skills including goal-setting, taking initiative and managing their emotions, as well as on most measures of transferring life skills and demonstrating positive character traits. These differences between The First Tee youth and the comparison group were statistically significant
Year three: After 3 years of the 4-year study, 73% reported high confidence in their ability to do well academically.
Year four: In each of the four years of the study, 100% of The First Tee participants identified school as a setting in which the character training transferred positively.
d. Conclusions: Youth who participate in character training like the program, stay with the program and transfer the skills and qualities to school, home and other settings.
Character training works. What is important to understand is that The First Tee has already provided proof of concept for character training for the past twenty years; it is their mission. We do not need to debate whether or not the Campaign Home Room concept will be successful. We do not need a trial balloon; we just need to execute.
The First Tee sanctioned a four-year study to determine the effectiveness of their character training program. In each of the four years of the study, 100% of the participating students identified school as the setting in which character training transferred positively into better school work.
When a student transfers 100% of what they understand about confidence, responsibility and perseverance into their classroom work, they don’t get behind and they don’t drop out.
e. 2003 STUDY: University of Florida Peter R. Giacobbi, Jr., Ph.D. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Mark Guadagnoli, Ph.D. Bill Holcomb, Ph.D. Gabriele Wulf, Ph.D. The Cannon Center for Survey Research
f. 2005-08 RESEARCH: Maureen R. Weiss, Ph.D. University of Minnesota (2007-08) University of Virginia (2005-06) Research Assistants: Jennifer A. Bhalla, Ph.D. Nicole D. Bolter, Ph.D. Polo DeCano, M.S. Lindsay E. Kipp, M.S. Ellen S. Markowitz, Ph.D. Melissa S. Price, Ph.D. Cheryl P. Stuntz, Ph.D.
Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army (Retired), is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders
Enclosure 3: Campaign planning and execution, phases 1, 2, 3 and 4.
1. Campaign Home Room has four phases: Centralized planning, decentralized planning and decentralized execution.
2. FROM CONCEPT APPROVAL THROUGH AUGUST, 2019: Centralized planning actions by President Trump (phase 1) and the Governors (phase 2). The President will move quickly during the first 90 days to shape the environment by building consensus for Campaign Home Room among all fifty Governors, national minority leaders, educators and legislators in particular and the greater public in general.
The center of gravity for Phase 1 is for the President to be an engaged leader and move very quickly to enlist the Governors so that they may begin their participation in Phase 2 activities.
Key actions for the Governors include:
a. Begin by briefing the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Schools and gain their total support.
b. Invite all of the County/City Board of Education Chairpersons and County Superintendents to a presentation and discussion of Campaign Home Room.
c. Invite state-wide minority leaders to a presentation and briefing of Campaign Home Room.
d. Host a briefing and discussion of Campaign Home Room with the Legislator’s Joint Committee on Education.
e. Present a briefing to the State Senate and House of Representatives.
f. Assemble teachers and school Principals to develop the end of year end-state standards for every grade and subject, K-12. See details in paragraph 14 of the Concept paper.
g. Direct the communications personnel to prepare for a social media roll-out of Campaign Home Room on a Phase 1 date to be determined.
h. Constitute a team to write the Character Curriculum.
i. On a Phase 1 date to be determined launch the Campaign Home Room website.
j. Lead an excursion to seek corporate, foundation or personal funding for The First Tee National School Program for every elementary school.
k. As a general rule the Governor should mention Campaign Home Room in every speech, press conference and field trip during Phase 1.
l. Every day, engage in some leadership activity associated with the Campaign and on a date to be determined publicly announce the commencement of Phase 2, Campaign Home Room.
3. PHASE 3, DETAILED DECENTRALIZED PLANNING, AUGUST 2019 THROUGH JULY 2020: The Governor remains engaged while the focus of the Campaign shifts into a decentralized mode at the County Board of Education, Superintendent and school Principal level. The center of gravity for Phase 3 is education leader buy-in in every County/CITY. The following actions will take place at the county level:
a. Recruitment and training of Home Room volunteers.
b. Planning for new school day hours.
c. Training of Physical Education teachers for The First Tee National School Program.
d. Implementation of standards for the end of each semester, each grade, each subject.
e. Completion of each teacher’s week-by-week course outline. Principals insure that each end-of-semester standard is synchronized with the start point for the next semester’s program.
f. Principals prepare to implement the “teaching, testing and the four-way contract” outlined in enclosure 1.
4. PHASE 4, SUSTAINED EXECUTION OF CAMPAIGN HOME ROOM AT THE BIGINNING OF SCHOOL YEAR 2020-2021. The center of gravity for Phase 4 is the leadership skill and strength of the nation’s school Principals.
a. As the Campaign Home Room leader, the Governor remains engaged.
b. School personnel, Superintendents and Education Board members share innovations, thoughts and best practices via the Campaign Home Room website.
5. Accountable leaders:
a. President Trump has overall lead.
b. The Secretary of Education will advocate for national participation.
c. Governors lead phase 2 then remain engaged.
d. The State Board of Education Chairperson and the State Superintendent of Schools will advocate for state-wide buy-in.
e. The County Board of Education Chairpersons, Superintendents and Principals are the accountable leaders for Phase 3, Detailed Decentralized Planning.
f. School Principals are accountable leaders for Phase 4, Sustained Execution.
Lt Gen Marvin L. Covault, US Army (Retired), is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders