The Other Side of the Report Card

The school year begins with “school chiefs” and others pushing national and state standards, applying pressure to increase students’ test scores, and promoting “laserlike, focused efforts” on the teaching of math, science, and reading. Few school leaders talked about the “citizenship side” of the report card. Yet, it is this side of the report card that tells the real story about student achievement and behavior because it assesses social and emotional skills, and character traits. The “citizenship” side of the card should not take second place in the “race to the top.” Why?

Michelle Borba, the author of the book, Building Moral Intelligence, writes: “Today’s kids are being raised in a much more morally toxic atmosphere than previous generations for two reasons. First, a number of critical social factors that nurture moral character are slowly disintegrating: adult supervision, models of moral behavior, spiritual or religious training, meaningful adult relationships, personalized schools, clear national values, community support, stability, and adequate parents. Second, our kids are being steadily bombarded with outside messages that go against the values we are trying to instill. Both factors make it much harder for parents to raise moral kids.”

There is concern enough for Newsweek (September 2004) to run a theme issue titled, “How to Say NO to Your Kids: Setting Limits in the Age of Excess.” The Josephsen’s Institute’s annual poll of teens reveals a rather high percentage of teens who cheat, steal, lie, and exhibit a “propensity toward violence” including bullying. Teacher polls show that teachers find students to be less respectful, more aggressive, more impulsive and impatient, and display more inappropriate language. One observer of the youth culture noted that the mantra of the “ME” generations appears to be: “I Know My Rights - I Want It Now - Someone Else Is To Blame - I'm A Victim.”

The other side of the report card also underscores the importance of social and emotional skills in the workplace. For example, the top five traits/qualities that Fortune 500 companies seek in employees are: teamwork, problem solving, interpersonal skills, communicating skills, and the ability to listen. Thomas Stanley, in his book, The Millionaire Mind, reports that a polling of 5,000 millionaires reveal that crucial to their success was integrity (being honest), discipline (self-control), social skills (getting along) and hard work (perseverance).

As we think about these observations and the citizenship side of our children’s report cards it might be wise to ask three questions:

1. Do we really believe that children are born “morally literate?”

2. Do we believe that they need to be taught to be moral (knowing the difference between right and wrong) and ethical (doing what is right) at home, in school, and in the community?

3. If we want our children to be good, caring, empathetic human beings, do we let this happen by chance or do we help them develop positive social and emotional skills?

We require, push, demand, cajole our children to learn the basic skills of reading, writing, and computing. But what is more basic than nurturing them to be caring, civil, responsible, respectful human beings who know and practice the “Golden Rule”? Daniel Goleman in his book, Emotional Intelligence, notes that IQ accounts for about 20% of success in life while the remaining 80% is attributed to factors related to emotional intelligence, such as self–awareness, managing emotions, empathy, social consciousness, self-restraint, and nurturing positive relationships.

In this new school year, let all of us join the many schools and communities in this county who are attending to the “citizenship” side of the report card by implementing programs designed to teach students democratic values, prosocial skills, emotional control and anger management, critical thinking, ethical decision-making, and what it means to be a good citizenship.

Ed DeRoche, Director

Character Development Center

University of San Diego

619-260-2250

Michele Borba at 2010 Character Matters Conference

Character Matters Conference 2010

Character Development Center Director, Ed DeRoche speakswith conference attendees at the annual summer conference.

2009/10 Character Matters Essay Contest Winners

Elementary School Division

Patrice Nguyen
1st Place

Steven Shoemaker
2nd Place

Nicole Dohner
3rd Place


Middle School Division

Susan Rahman
1st Place

Elise Church
2nd Place

Rosie D’Amato
3rd Place


High School Division

Michelle Savrese
1st Place

Tammy Truong
2nd Place

Brianna Brewster
3rd Place

McMillin Elementary School

Patricia McGinty, who received her Specialist Certificate in Character Development several years ago, has presented at our annual Character Development Conference and has instructed our online courses. She is a first grade teacher at McMillin Elementary School in Chula Vista where great strides are being made to give students the positive skills they will need to thrive in the world they will inherit. She shared the following article with us about McMillin's success in implementing the Anti-Defamation League's - No Place for Hate® initiative.

McMillin Elementary School is Committed to Becoming No Place for Hate®

Date: February 8, 2010

As part of their commitment to becoming No Place for Hate®, McMillin Elementary School, part of the Chula Vista Elementary School District, recently conducted two activities that enhance students’ appreciation for diversity and foster respect for others.

All K-6 grade students participated in Mix It Up Lunch Day. Their Peace Patrol members and PTA helped students find their numbered tables and led them to a lunch time of new conversations with new friends. This day helped students become more comfortable interacting with new people and gave them a chance to make new friends. Being able to sit with somebody different created many opportunities for friendships that might not have developed otherwise.

McMillin Elementary also held their annual Ability Awareness Celebration. Community members with a variety of disability experiences spent two days sharing about societal issues that impact people with disabilities. Students learn about accessibility, assistive technology, disability history and laws, as well as attitudes and assumptions that will either support people or further disable people. Volunteers for the event were treated to lunch provided by local businesses, as well as the McMillin PTA.

The Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate® initiative aims to create more harmonious communities, classrooms and workplaces by combating bias and increasing an appreciation for the richness that diversity brings. ADL commends McMillin Elementary School and the Chula Vista Elementary School District for their commitment to becoming No Place for Hate®.

Nate Kaeding at Toler Elementary

Nate Kaeding talks to students at Toler Elementary School about the importance of developing their character. Nate received his Specialist Certificate in Character Development at USD. He runs a summer camp in Iowa focusing on sports and character.

Airforce Academy

U.S. Airforce Academy staff from The Center for Character and Leadership in Colorado Springs earn their Specialist Certificates in Character Development.

Alumni Updates

Jan Olsson

Jan Olsson, Principal of Huntsville High in Ontario, earned his Specialist Certificate in Character Development at USD several years ago and has presented at the annual Character Development Conference along with his mother, Eva Olsson, Holocaust survivor. We are proud to learn that Jan was among one of 32 Canadian Principals named Outstanding Principal for 2010. Jan has been an administrator at the school for 10 years, the last 4 as Principal. He is a published author, and has been credited with pushing the bar higher for character development throughout the Trillium Lakelands District School Board.

Reading- Boys – Stories - Character

One of the educators who just completed an online course with us did a project that sparked my interest by offering some views about boys, reading, and character development. This teacher reviewed 15 books with interesting and motivating stories about values and virtues and suggested how teachers could use the stories to teach reading skills and positive character traits. This project reminded me of my own reading experiences and my teaching of elementary and middle school boys.

I did not like to read when I was in school. In fact, I was a poor/slow reader. I know this because in my elementary grades there were no girls in my reading group. It was my assumption that the girls were better readers. The teacher usually sat the boys together and gave us our reading lessons just before recess. Our theory was that our teacher needed an immediate break after spending a half hour or so trying to spark our interest in reading and trying to teach us the skills of reading.

Yet I did read. I was a newspaper carrier (about 100 customers) and every day I would read the sport pages, the comic pages, about the war, and sometimes other parts of the newspaper. But this kind of reading was not what my teachers had in mind. They were into literature and books. I liked to read newspapers and some magazines and go to the movies. I read my first complete book (The Old Grey Homestead) the summer I graduated from high school. I have been catching up ever since.

My experiences confirm what is reported in the research that suggests that girls perform better than boys on literacy assessment and that the gap between the two increases with age. I also found another research result—that boys see reading as a “girls” activity and “in conflict with their sense of masculinity.” Other researchers note boys have difficulty “understanding narrative text, but do better with informational text.” (Was that why I liked reading newspapers daily?)

As I look back at my early teaching years I recall that the boys in our school who were experiencing literacy problems were more than likely to be held back a grade; to be involved in bullying, violence, and unruly behavior in classes; to be suspended or expelled; to be in detention hall; to be in reading clinics and special reading programs; and, it seemed at the time, to drop out before completing high school.

I remember how Stan (the math teacher), Alice (the school reading specialist) and I decided that we would try instructional strategies that would play to the boys’ interests, needs, and learning styles with more project-based experiences (we didn’t call it project-based learning at that time), more real-life materials (newspapers, magazines, etc.), and more hands-on lessons. We also focused on their motivations and attitudes, their behavior and such social skills as manners, courtesy, and respect. Recently I read that successful literacy programs are able to teach at-risk students to make connections between their lives and what they know, and to engage in conversations about what they are reading and their own lives. We tried to do this.

So, for many boys, there is a need to teach them literacy skills such as reading, writing, and communication at the same time that they are taught behavioral skills such as respect, responsibility, self-discipline, manners, and courtesy.

By Ed DeRoche, Ph.D.

Character Development Center