Major support provided by:
John Templeton Foundation
Integrating
Excellence &
Ethics…
For success in
school work
and beyond
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
4 Groups Comprise the ELC:
Faculty and staff, the Professional Ethical
Learning Community (PELC), provides the
foundational leadership for the ELC.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
 A community that supports and
challenges
 Self-study
 Other-study
 Public performance/presentation
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
A Community That Supports
and Challenges
• Develop an Ethical Learning
Community whose
members strive to realize
their own potential for
excellence and ethics
• AND help to bring out the
best in every other person.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
Self-Study
• Engage in self-monitoring to
identify both strengths and
areas for growth in performance
character and moral character.
• Based on your self-assessment,
set goals for improvement and
monitor your progress.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
Other Study
• Study the products and
pathways of individuals who
demonstrate performance
character and moral
character.
• Learn to emulate exemplars’
pathways to success.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
Public Performance/Presentation
• Use public performances &
presentations—exhibitions,
competitions, speeches, shows, and
“real-world” work—to motivate best
effort.
• Create a “culture of critique”—
having students regularly present
their work to peers for feedback—in
order to heighten their responsibility
for doing their best work and being
their best ethical self.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Approaches learning as a lifelong process
• Demonstrates skills of critical analysis
• Takes seriously the perspectives of others
• Seeks expert opinion and credible
evidence
• Generates alternative solutions
• Demonstrates willingness to admit error.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Strives for excellence; gives best
effort
• Demonstrates initiative and selfdiscipline
• Knows standards of quality and
creates high-quality products; takes
pride in work
• Sets personal goals and assesses
progress
• Perseveres in the face of difficulty.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Possesses a healthy self-confidence and a
positive attitude
• Demonstrates basic courtesy in social
situations
• Develops positive interpersonal
relationships that include sensitivity to the
feelings of others and the capacity for
“care-frontation”
• Communicates effectively
• Works well with others
• Resolves conflicts fairly
• Has emotional intelligence, including selfknowledge and the ability to manage
emotions.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Possesses moral discernment—including
ethical wisdom and good judgment
• Has a well-formed moral conscience—
including the sense of duty and the desire
to do the right thing
• Has a strong moral identity—a self-concept
that makes one’s moral character and
moral commitments central to “who I am”
• Possesses the moral competence, or
“know-how,” needed to translate moral
discernment, conscience, and identity into
effective moral behavior.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Respects the rights and dignity of all
persons
• Understands that respect includes the
right of conscience to disagree
respectfully
• Possesses a strong sense of personal
efficacy and responsibility to do what’s
right
• Takes responsibility for mistakes
• Accepts responsibility for setting a good
example and being a positive influence
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Demonstrates self-control across
a wide range of situations
• Pursues physical, emotional, and
mental health
• Makes responsible personal
choices that contribute to positive
self-development, a healthy
lifestyle, and a positive future.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Contributes to classroom, school,
and community
• Demonstrates civic virtues and skills
needed for participation in
democratic processes
• Appreciates the nation’s democratic
heritage and democratic values
• Demonstrates awareness of
interdependence and a sense of
responsibility to humanity.
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE
• Seeks a life of noble purpose
• Formulates life goals and
ways to pursue them
• Considers existential
questions (e.g., “What is
happiness?”, “What is the
meaning of life?”, “What is
the meaning of my life?”)
www.cortland.edu/character
SMART & GOOD SCHOOLS INITIATIVE