Welcome to Project CHARACTER* Montessori School 31 Staff Development September 2, 2010

Created by: Jim Carroll Joe Montecalvo

Project CHARACTER* Developed by James J. Carroll, Ph.D., it was created as a result of a grant that was awarded by the U. S. Department of Education’s Character Education Program in July, 2008 to the Yonkers Public Schools

Project CHARACTER Co-Directors: Howard Krieger Jim Carroll, Ph.D.

Year 1 Target Schools Emerson Middle School Martin Luther King, Jr. Montesorri 27 School 21

Year 2 Target Schools Khalil Gibran School Roosevelt High School

Year 3 Target Schools School 16 School 17 Montessori 31 !!!! de Hostos DiChiaro

Our Philosophy Is Illustrated in this Peanuts Cartoon

C itizenship and H igh A cademic standards, R einforcing the A spen C haracter T raits, and E thical R easoning

Character Education Public Policy Analyst (CEPPA) Define the ProblemDefine the Problem Gather EvidenceGather Evidence Identify the CausesIdentify the Causes Evaluate Existing PoliciesEvaluate Existing Policies Develop Public Policy SolutionsDevelop Public Policy Solutions Select the Best Public Policy SolutionSelect the Best Public Policy Solution

The key to our success is… Our School Community

Our Leadership Team (LT) Dr. Banks-Williams Marc Casey Monica Avila

Join Our Team !! We are currently seeking 3 more dedicated faculty members to be a part of our Project Character Leadership Team

Every faculty member should select one of the school-wide problems: 1.Discipline (Sept-Nov) 2.Academic Achievement (Dec- Feb) 3. Parental Involvement (Mar-June) Committee meetings will be held on MONDAYS after school for 1 hour

The CEPPA addresses these school social problems… (a) discipline problems (b) students’ grades (c) participation in extracurricular activities (d) parental and community involvement (e) faculty and administration involvement (f) student and staff morale

Quick CEPPA Overview 1.What’s the problem? 2.Where is the evidence? (must be measurable) 3.What are the causes? 4.What is the existing policy? 5.What policies can you create to correct the problem? 6.What is the best policy to correct the

Problem: Many students at Montessori 31 do not wear the required school uniform. Undesirable social conditions that result from this problem: a) Lack of confidence b) Creates competition among students c) Bullying

Present evidence that a problem exists. Be as specific as possible and cite at least one source of data: Each month, the administration sends around a “uniform compliance form”. Teachers must complete the form, stating how many students in his/her class are wearing the school uniform on a consistent basis. Data collected on these forms suggests that only about 60% of students are wearing the uniform consistently.

Briefly list several broad underlying factors that contribute to the problem that you have identified: There are few consequences for students that do not comply. Students feel peer pressure to not wear the uniform. Students and parents do not see the value in school uniformity.

State one of the major existing policies that attempts to deal with the social problem:

List at least three public policy alternatives. Be sure that all of your public policy alternatives are at the same political level as your social problem. Each alternative must specify the actual government or government agency that will carry out the proposed action.

List the three public policy alternatives. Create a short word or abbreviation to summarize each policy and write it at the end of each policy (see example).

HIGHMEDIUMLOW HIGH MEDIUM LOW

If we all work together as a team… …then CHARACTER will achieve its goals and objectives in our four target schools

In Closing

Remember: Keep Your Deck Chairs Facing Forward!!!