What Do Teens Really Value? A Josephson Institute survey of more than 20,000 high school students reveals surprising information about their values.

Teens Place a Very High Value on Ethics and Good Moral Character. Students were presented with a long list of options and were asked to indicate how important each item was to them. Here are the highlights of the percentages that rated the item as very important or essential: Being treated with respect – 99 percent. Having good moral character …

MEMO From Michael: Youth Violence and Bullying

Just last month in a weekly memo I asked if violence and mass killings had become our new reality. That was prompted by the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. Since then, the headlines have continued to shock and sadden us with news of seemingly random acts of violence. Some might ask: Since when has the news media not brought us …

Sneak Peek at Results of Educators’ Survey

(updated 12/4/13) Almost 4,500 educators (including 2426 teachers, 616 principals, 411 school counselors, 225 superintendents,  and 79 school board members)  have already taken the new Josephson Institute survey on the state of education in America. (If you haven’t already, please take the survey here and please share this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JIEducatorSurvey on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere to encourage others to take it as well — the …

Eight Sentences That Changed the World: The Aspen Declaration

In July 1992, the nonprofit Josephson Institute of Ethics hosted a 3-day summit of prominent youth leaders, educators and character education scholars in Aspen, Colorado. The result was this declaration, which provided the guiding principles for the CHARACTER COUNTS! movement that currently reaches about 8 million young people. It is clear that the eight sentences making up the Declaration is as …

What Do Educators Think About Education in America? (Preliminary Report #2 on our Survey Results)

Summary. We surveyed more than 2,500 educators (board members, superintendents, principals, teachers, counselors and support staff) and asked them to give their opinions on the trends in education in the past five years. (Are you an educator? Please take the survey here if you haven’t already.) Here are some of the survey results so far. What’s Going Well. Majority of educators believe …

MEMO From Michael: Sneak Peek – Some Surprising Preliminary Results of Our Educators’ Survey

(Updated 11/26/13) Nearly 4500 educators (76 Board members, 225 superintendents, 616 principals, 2414 teachers and 406 school counselors) have already taken the new Josephson Institute survey on the state of education in America. (If you haven’t already, please take the survey here and please share this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JIEducatorSurvey on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere to encourage others to take it as well — …

MEMO From Michael: 9/11, Colombia, New Survey on Education

Thoughts on September 11 Re-experiencing the 9/11 attacks is always a traumatic experience for me. I’ve posted several videos I think you will find worth your time. One cannot think about this shocking proof of our vulnerability without some anxiety and deep sorrow for the loss of life and of our innocent naiveté about our safety. Two images are etched …

NEW SURVEY: The State of Education in America

The Josephson Institute has just launched a new comprehensive survey for educators (school board members, superintendents, principals and other administrators, teachers and school staff) and parents of children in school. It is designed to be one of the most comprehensive and influential studies of the trends, opinions and actions of administrators, teachers, students and parents. We hope to have at …

MEMO From Michael: Bound for Bogota — and Medellin!

As mentioned in last week’s updates, I’ll be in Colombia next week. I will post dispatches on the What Will Matter Facebook page, so be sure to Like that page so you can stay in the loop. Much of this week has been spent collaborating with Dr. Gary Smit, the de facto dean of our national CHARACTER COUNTS! training faculty, and two of …

Recent Activities at Josephson Institute

What’s new and exciting at Josephson Institute? Here’s an update: Proposal for Colombia. I worked on a major proposal to the Secretary of Education of Bogota, Colombia. They are seeking bids on ways to help them initiate a comprehensive values education program in their 400 or so public schools. The idea is to integrate into their academic program the teaching …

MEMO From Michael

It’s been a busy month for us as we adjust to our new, very lean staff resulting from the downsizing last month. If you value what we do either personally or what we are doing for the world, please, please consider making a donation here. I know these are difficult times for everyone, but even $5 or $10 could make …

Critical Educational Outcomes: Model Standards for Academic, Social, Emotional, and Character Development. Making the Common Core easy.

This week we completed a monumental project: Critical Educational Outcomes: Model Standards for Academic, Social, Emotional, and Character Development. These standards, the first-ever effort to integrate all major educational outcomes, form the backbone of the new CHARACTER COUNTS! 4.0, a fully integrated school improvement and student development system any school can use. If you are an educator, please print them out and share …

OBSERVATION: Ignorant people can be both wise and kind and they are worthy of respect for the qualities they have, not contempt for those they lack.

I was surprised how many people responded to the posting on my What Will Matter Facebook page. It was a picture and quote from Aibileen Clark, a black maid in the movie The Help: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” I added this line: “Grammar doesn’t matter nearly as much as the sentiment – one that every parent and …

Memo From Michael: Thoughts on School Graduations

This is a week dominated by thoughts and preparations for my daughter Abrielle’s graduation from high school and a post-ceremony party I’m hosting at our home. As has been the case with the brother and sister that preceded her, and as it will be with the two sisters who will follow her, this occasion – the graduation from high school, …

Memo From Michael: Teachers and Tornadoes

Once I got past the awe of witnessing Mother Nature’s astonishing power to wreak devastation in Oklahoma, I was awed by something more positive and uplifting: the instinctive capacity of our species to care about, come to the aid of, and — for those caught in the middle of the calamity — to even sacrifice their own lives for others.

WORTH SEEING: My Daughter Abrielle

Okay, on Mothers Day I give all the credit to her mom, Anne, for her intelligence, talent and beauty, but I still think of this as a nice Dad’s moment: Daughter Abrielle was selected as the class speaker at her high school graduation. Look out world, another Josephson talker; and, last night, along with her writing partner Catherine, she won …