When our teachers first developed our list of Traits for Success, courage was not a part of it.   Several years into the program, we began to understand the aspirational qualities of success in schools.  We wanted our children to process that success is not just something that happened in the past, but something to aspire to.

Academic report cards focus on what has happened in the past (where you have been).  Success trait report cards focus on the future (where you want to go).   In choosing Success Trait terms like Courage and Generosity, we are saying that we want to graduate students who do the “right thing” (Courage); students who are kind and respectful to everyone (Generous). We feel that these are some of the attributes that best represent the spirit of a democratic society.

A courage portion of a report card might look like this:

• Is willing to tackle new challenges
• Stands up to class bullying
• Reaches out to the victims of bullying
• Speaks truthfully
• Acts honestly
• Views role in the class as important
• Acts courageously on a daily basis

So, how does a teacher determine whether a student “Is willing to tackle new challenges” or “Stands up to class bullying”, or “Acts courageously on a daily basis”?”  The answer lies in the ways the school evaluates its reporting systems.

As noted above, the “Traits for Success” report card is similar, but not the same as the academic report card.   The Traits for Success report card is not a daily assignment that gets graded. Instead, teachers need to be willing and supported in speaking the truth about the challenges they see for their students.

A teacher does not need a long list of atrocities to determine that a student bullies others, or speaks less than truthfully, or acts less than honestly- even just one incident is unacceptable. Traits for Success grades are not intended to be fixed assessments of character, but rather challenges for new growth. Last week’s bullying incident in the lunchroom does not define a child, but hopefully informs his future decision making.

I can’t let this opportunity go by without challenging teachers to take back their power.  Teachers see their children interact on a daily basis and need to have an opportunity to speak the truth of what they see.   Others might see a teacher judgement as being wrong, but only if a child is unable to grow from the feedback and to change an unfavorable grade to a favorable grade.  This is rarely the case with the academic report card.  It is the reality of a character report card.

We welcome you to the conversation.  Please let us know that you care by liking comments, forwarding posts, or joining in our dialogue at johnzurn.com.

Coming Next Wednesday- How to Grade for Generosity

From our first posting:

“As parents and teachers, we need to reclaim our traditional role as influencers of our children – not by shouting louder than the influencers our children discover online, but by stressing ideas that are more important than fancy shoes and snappy TikTok tunes. We need to emphasize traits that everyone agrees children will honor.  We need to convince our children that the people who are most important to them have a better understanding of what it takes to be successful in life.”

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