Highlights from 2007-08 CHARACTER COUNTS



2017 – 2018 United Way of Martin County

CHARACTER COUNTS! Mini-Grants Summary

The intent of the United Way of Martin County CHARACTER COUNTS! Mini-Grants Program is for schools, non-profit agencies and youth organizations in Martin County, through educational and awareness projects, to expand upon and enhance their current CHARACTER COUNTS! programming with innovative, impactful projects which address character development and / or bullying prevention, youth substance abuse, or parent / family involvement. Nineteen grants, totaling $10,485.00, were awarded to Martin County School District and local non-profit agency / youth organization staff in November 2017. Below is a summary from each of the recipient’s projects.

1. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Anna Hartnig – #LittleActsBigChange Media Campaign ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: Through social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Mentorbig Blog), discussions, and random act of kindness activities, “matches” (youth and their mentors) will experience what it means “to be of good character.”

➢ Activities:

o BBBS staff helped participants examine the impact of local non-profit organizations on our community by asking them to give examples how each organization uses the different Pillars of Character to touch the community. “Bigs and Littles” worked together to decorate picture frames for each match and introduce the hashtag #LittleActsBigChange. Matches then delivered baskets with needed items to House of Hope, LAHIA, Brookdale Assisted Living, 10th Street Community Center, Treasure Coast Humane Society, and other local non-profit agencies.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o 100% of all participants who participated in the social media campaign conducted an act of kindness by delivering a basket full of donations. Their random acts of kindness were posted on BBBS media sites; posts received 32 likes and 5 shares.

o 100% of participating matches increased their knowledge of the Six Pillars of Character as evidenced through a pre and post activity survey. The surveys revealed a knowledge increase by attendees from 2.4 to 4.6 out of 5.0 overall points.

• Activity survey questions: 1) I feel I have a good understanding of CHARACTER COUNTS!, 2) I understand the Six Pillars of Character, 3) If asked, I feel confident I could list the Six Pillars of Character, 4) I understand the utilization of the Six Pillars of Character in the community.

2. Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County, Hobe Sound , Genaris Haston – Character Counts in HEROES Initiative, ($300.00)

➢ Purpose: Members will be presented opportunities to engage in meaningful community service projects with organizations that exemplify the Six Pillars of Character. Members will learn from partnering organizations the importance of each Pillar through an interactive discussion and demonstrate each Pillar with a fun and educational service project. Topics will include: a person of good character, values all persons, respects the dignity and freedom of others, courteous and accepting of others, use of good manners. A meaningful community service project will follow.

➢ Activities:

o Citizenship – VFW: Guest speakers from the VFW and members discussed the importance of citizenship. Members participated in the VFW’s “donations for poppies” fundraiser and raised $400.00 for the VFW.

o Trustworthiness – Humane Society of the Treasure Coast: Members learned about trustworthiness through demonstrations by Humane Society staff and volunteers and then completed several service projects that benefitted the animals at the Shelter.

o Responsibility – Keep Martin Beautiful: Project in progress

o Fairness – NAACP / EEOC: Cultural diversity interactive discussion (in progress)

o Caring – House of Hope: Project in progress

o Respect – Stuart Police Department: Project in progress

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o 100% of HERO Club members who regularly attended the CHARACTER COUNTS! IN HEROES initiative has increased or maintained their knowledge and understands the importance of CHARACTER COUNTS! as reported by pre and post assessment scores.

o 100% of HERO Club members have completed or are on track to complete 10 or more hours of community service; community service hours tracked by KidTrax attendance reports.

3. Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County, Indiantown, LaTricia Jenkins – Character Counts in Parent’s & Children’s Time Together ($650.00)

➢ Purpose: Family interaction is critical in building strong character in children. 65 Club members, ages 6 through 18, will work together to learn the importance of and practice the Six Pillars of Character while planning an event to bring families together. Through participation in these activities, members will learn the importance of the Six Pillars of Character, build their skills in teamwork, build self-confidence, and promote a sense of belonging within the Club.

➢ Activities:

o Discussions and lessons were used daily.

o Pillar of Caring – Thanksgiving gathering with 150 – 20 members and families in attendance

o Pillar of Trustworthiness – Members discussed how to build trust among each other and participated in the “do you trust me” activity.

o Pillar of Fairness – Utilized the component of teaching the skills or sportsmanship

o Pillar of Citizenship – Lesson on giving back to the community; participated in Keep Martin Beautiful

o Pillar of Respect – Lesson on what respect looks like to the members, teaching that it is not polite to be mean or disrespect others; how to give and receive respect.

o Pillar of Responsibility – Members were in charge of organizing the year-end celebration; certificates were presented to the members for showing improvement in program areas and throughout the club.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome: N/A

4. Citrus Grove Elementary School, Mark Scholl – Popping Pillars ($400.00)

➢ Purpose: To reinforce day-to-day CHARACTER COUNTS! learning by creating a noticeable visual display of the Six Pillars of Character.

➢ Activities:

o Pillars were made for each of the Six Pillars of Character.

o Videos were created to introduce the students to the pillars and generate hype.

o Initially, the pillars were used as the background scenery during morning announcements then they appeared throughout the school in a conspicuous place or have an activity to engage the students.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Using a pre and post survey, a minimum of 40 students from each grade, third through fifth, were asked to name as many of the Pillars of Character as possible.

o Pretest data showed that approximately one quarter of the surveyed students could name at least one pillar; 1) 44% could not name a single pillar and 2) 26% were able to name at least one pillar

o Posttest data – 1) Only 6% of students were not able to name single pillar and 2) 84% were able to name at least one pillar. 63% of the surveyed students could name two or three pillars.

5. Crystal Lake Elementary School, Jennifer Erato and Rebekah Houseal – Character Counts for Every Child, Every Day ($750.00)

➢ Purpose: To strengthen CHARACTER COUNTS! education through curriculum, supplemental educational materials, and awards to celebrate students’ acquisition and demonstration of good character.

➢ Activities (Began in 2017 – 2018; will roll out completely in 2018 – 2019):

o The CHARACTER COUNTS! team created CHARACTER COUNTS! curriculum bags with grade aligned lessons including pillar-focused books, early childhood sticker packs to reinforce the pillar following the lesson. These will also act as a communication tool to the parents that students have had a lesson about CHARACTER COUNTS! in class.

o CHARACTER COUNTS! team began modeling lessons for teachers.

o Students were asked what they would like to learn more about next year in CHARACTER COUNTS! and results showed that they are interested in learning more about how to show the behaviors connected to each pillar. The CHARACTER COUNTS! team will focus to make sure students are given these experiences and expectations of how to perform each pillar through the use of role-play, scenario based inquiries and other tools built into the lessons.

o This year, rewards (wristbands, certificates, ice cream parties) were used as effective positive reinforcements to highlight students showing good character.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Students were motivated by rewards. When asked about how students liked the current rewards, students responded stating they enjoyed prizes paired with the certificates – “This made me feel so proud of myself! It made feel really happy because I was responsible to get it.”

o Final data to be complied and submitted after full project implementation year-end 2018 – 2019.

6. Dr. David L. Anderson Middle School, Vonetta Allen – PBIS Expectation Banners (awareness project) ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: Increase academic performance and safety, decrease problem behavior, and establish a positive school culture by increasing the visibility of schoolwide expectations in common areas of the school; Increase awareness and understanding of the Six Pillars of Character

➢ Activities:

o Created and displayed large PBIS / CHARACTER COUNTS! banners in the gymnasium and cafeteria; displayed other signs in the bus loop and hallways.

o Presented the Six Pillars of Character during daily announcements and through the AMS class.

o Once a week, teachers met with a group of students to discuss different issues and topics that affected their daily living.

o Wise Skills lessons were provided to teachers to teach character building lessons.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Rti-B data showed that there were fewer referrals in January, February, March and April of 2017 – 2018 compared to the previous year.

o Location of events decreased in areas where signs were displayed. In 2016 – 2017, there were 115 events in the cafeteria compared to 43 events in 2017 – 2018, a decrease of 72 events. There were 15 events in the gymnasium in 2016 – 2017 and in 2017 – 2018 there were none.

o Data collected from the incorporation of the Six Pillars of Character during daily announcements and incorporation of Wise Skills lessons: in January 2018, 367 students were surveyed to see how many students could name the Six Pillars of Character. 45% of the students sampled were able to name the pillars. In May 2018, those students were surveyed again and 67% of the students could name the Pillars of Character.

7. Hibiscus Children’s Center, Nicole Beckford-Henry and Lisa Wynne – Youth Substance Abuse Awareness Project ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: To educate and enable the Shelter’s children to reject illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco and cultivate good character by incorporating weekly segments where the children will participate in educational discussions and activities utilizing CHARACTER COUNTS! resources.

➢ Activities:

o Activities included discussions, short stories, videos, arts and crafts, and journaling.

• Opening topic, “I am proud to be drug free.” Students drew a picture of themselves, gave a reason why they will say no to drugs “if someone tries to give me something bad”, and I will … and when I grow up I want to …”

• The children watched a video of other children discussing why they are proud to be drug free followed by small group discussions to talk about their personal views about drugs.

• Specific drugs, such as cigarette smoking, were targeted. Topic activities included a video, discussion and craft and / or journaling project.

• Each child created a collection box with artwork of all the topics discussed to take with him / her when he / she leaves the Shelter as a reminder of all he / she has learned.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Having the open discussion about substance / drug prevention has increased the children’s knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to make good choices or change harmful behaviors.

o From January through June 2018, approximately 79 children and 28 staff members benefitted from this program.

o After viewing a smoking simulation video, one child shared how he has seen how cigarettes can impact people they love that are smokers and what it could do to their mouth, throat and lungs. The child compiled all his substance abuse activities he worked on and placed them into a box. When he went on a home visit to see his family, he was able to show his parents all he learned about the effects of smoking and said he told them that he did not want to lose them.

8. Hobe Sound Elementary School, Ruth Casady – Superhero “Citizen” ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: To recognize students that are showing kindness and working hard in their classrooms using the Six Pillar of Character traits.

➢ Activities:

o Classroom guidance lessons emphasized working together and showing kindness Emphasis was put on hands on activities to be able to teach the skills of working together in large and small groups as well as being aware of how their acts make others feel and having empathy.

o Two students per class were awarded each week with a pin, certificate and photo. Photos were hung on the Superhero Citizen bulletin board in the cafeteria.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o 65 students each week throughout the school year were recognized

o Positive public relations with parents

o Raised self-esteem and pride among students recognized

9. The Hope Center for Autism, Joanne Sweazey – Social Thinking is Our Super Power ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: Continuing the work that started last year and expanding the social knowledge of our students to not only identify the effect of behavior on others, but to also learn strategies to change behavior in a way that considers the perception of others and results in the demonstration of the pillars of character, this project will educate two speech language pathologists in the implementation of social thinking programming.

➢ Activities:

o Sent two speech pathologists to the Social Thinking Conference for training in December 2017.

o Student instruction was implemented through one on one, small group and lunch bunch sessions.

o Every month students from each class were recognized for demonstrating positive behaviors.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o The goal that 80% of students will be making progress in the reduction of problem behaviors was met schoolwide but not on individual behavior plans.

o For tier 3 behaviors (individual student behavior plans), there was a 21.95% decrease in problem behaviors.

o For “safe” behaviors, there was a 99% decrease from August 2017 to May 2018.

o While numbers show success, they are not able to capture the impact this grant has had on our students. In August students demonstrated parallel play skills and often needed constant redirection working in even a small group. Students were not able to benefit from instruction delivered in a whole group setting due to joint attention deficits.

o By December students were able to sit in small groups for brief periods, but the majority was unable to demonstrate enough joint attention skills to learn in that setting.

o By April, many students were learning in whole group situations for some instruction, but more significant was the fact that they had learned enough socially appropriate and perspective taking skills to make friends.

10. Indiantown Middle School, Ivana Ayala-Esslinger – CHARACTER COUNTS! Relaunch (awareness project) ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: To improve awareness of CHARACTER COUNTS! and the Six Pillar of Character

➢ Activities:

o Displayed signage throughout school.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Through a small sampling of students, many found the signage helpful overall to remind them of the school’s expectations.

11. Jensen Beach Elementary School, Holly Dowling – Shaping Characters as Characters ($535.00)

➢ Purpose: To provide a more relatable, engaging, memorable and visual way for students to learn about the Six Pillars of Character.

➢ Activities:

o Purchased CHARACTER COUNTS! mascots that represented the Six Pillars of Character.

o Used mascots at monthly student of the month assemblies, on the school news, and at other school events to reinforce the Pillars.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Since introducing the mascots to the students, schoolwide behavior has improved. Total referrals decreased from 301 in 2016 – 2017 to 227 in 2017 – 2018 (74).

12. Martin County High School, Dorcas Boucher, Rebecca Herring, Candice McCoy, and Marilyn Southwick – Infusing Character Development in Teen Parents, Future Parents & Beginning English Readers ($455.00)

➢ Purpose: This project focused on three totally different classes / groups of students to teach and learn positive character traits through reading – Teen Parent class, Intensive Reading class for English Language Learners, and the Family Living class.

➢ Activities:

o Intensive Reading class for English Language Learners – teacher modeled oral reading; students and teacher discussed the character traits; students identified the positive character traits found in the books.

o The project was not implemented in the Teen Parent or Family Living classes.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Thirteen books were ordered. All thirteen books were checked out from two to eleven times by students in the Intensive Reading for ELL class.

o Students answered seven questions for each book they read including, “What character traits are being represented in the story?”, “How did … show her caring and love?”

13. Martin County High School, Dorcas Boucher and James Korycinski – Novel Characters Have Character Too! ($525.00)

➢ Purpose: To improve literacy by offering students with more and better access to novels that present great examples of characters demonstrating positive character traits.

➢ Activities:

o Seven books were purchased and displayed in the media center.

o Three teachers created worksheets for each book that students completed when they finished reading a book. Questions focused on explaining the character traits of the books’ characters and reflections from the student on his / her own character. Questions included, “(of the Six Pillars of Character) Is there any one character that embodies all of these traits?”, “Using the list of positive and negative character traits in the word bank or your word knowledge, list the ones you feel are a part of the main character’s personalities.”, (From To Kill a Mockingbird) “Give an example of how you can respect your teacher or how you can be a good citizen of the school community.”

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o The project had a slow start and only two books were each checked out.

o The project will be continued in 2018 – 2019 and another final report will be submitted.

14. Murray Middle School, Nicole Hammond – Character Development ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: To improve overall school climate in a positive way by increasing awareness of the Six Pillars of Character among all teachers and staff in order to support and drive educational decisions and challenge our students to become better citizens, by using CHARACTER COUNTS! curriculum and materials to increase team building skills among staff and students, and recognize students and staff accomplishments.

➢ Activities:

o Purchased and distributed CHARACTER COUNTS! curriculum and promotional / awareness materials.

o Formed a team of seven teachers, staff and administrators to assist in choosing students to be recognized. Started recognizing students and teachers monthly.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome: The school does not believe the negative data reflected in referrals and attendance records is a reflection on this project.

o Reduce referrals – 2017 –18 referral were 1969, up from 1442 in 2016 –17

o Increase attendance: 2017 –18 attendance records showed 92, down 1 from 93 in 2016 –17.

15. Palm City Elementary School, Kate Bradley, Amy Belowch and Leigh Anne Pike – iWonder about CHARACTER COUNTS! ($715.00)

➢ Purpose: To improve students’ knowledge of the Six Pillars of Character while increasing academic achievement. (Research shows that character development has a positive impact on academic achievement.)

➢ Activities:

o iWonder about CC! was a daily segment on the school news where questions about everyday life experiences were posed and students were asked to provide their insight into how to handle them by utilizing the Six Pillars of Character.

o The news show taught and described what each pillar means and provided quotes for historical figures that supported or further explained each pillar.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Goal – the percentage of students at academic achievement level of 3 or better will increase by 10%. Outcome – Using iReady data, in all grade levels, except fifth grade, the number of students reading below grade level greatly reduced. This was a positive impact on academic achievement.

o Goal – A pre and post-survey on the students’ knowledge of the CHARACTER COUNTS! program and the Six Pillars of Character would be implemented to show the knowledge gained from this project. Outcome – Students scored an average of 4 out of 6 on the CHARACTER COUNTS! pre-quiz. The school was unable to implement the post-quiz.

o Video vignettes and written virtual sticky note responses from a school body of work or portfolio are tangible, concrete evidence of the students’ learning. Evidence of student engagement, participation and learning is evident in the postings in the school’s Google classroom.

16. SafeSpace, Monique Coleman – Connecting to Character ($680.00)

➢ Purpose: To break the cycle of domestic violence by teaching youth about good character. This project will use the Six Pillars of Character to educate youth about the warning signs and healthy relationship traits and achieve social change in our community.

➢ Activities:

o Created a “Connecting to Character My Stuff Bag”.

o Created a safety plan booklet that was printed in the colors of the Six Pillars of Character.

o Monthly support groups that included discussions, art activities, films and books related to good character and the Six Pillars of Character.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Goal – To increase the Shelter youth’s knowledge about the Six Pillars of Character as measured through a pre and post-survey by 80%. Outcome – There was an increase in knowledge gained by all children who were pre and post-surveyed, showing an improvement in their scores of 1 to 3 points. 86% of the children increased their scores by 2 points.

17. SafeSpace, Monique Coleman – Does YOUR Relationship have CHARACTER? ($1,000.00)

➢ Purpose: To educate middle and high school youth about the relationship between CHARACTER COUNTS!, the Six Pillars of Character and promoting healthy relationships.

➢ Activities:

o YOUR Leaders of Martin County members created an interactive workbook which will connect and further educate readers on each pillar and how it relates to relationship violence, bullying prevention and the importance of promoting healthy relationships.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Of the 35 YOUR Leaders who were assisted on this project, 97% increased their knowledge, 88% said they would be very likely to get help, and 92% said that bullying is preventable.

18. South Fork High School, Kathleen Jordan – ESOL CHARACTER COUNTS! Lessons (awareness project) ($500.00)

➢ Purpose: To provide Hispanic CHARACTER COUNTS! teaching materials to ESOL teachers. The goal is by teaching the Six Pillars of Character in other languages will prevent discipline problems due to lack of communication in expectations.

➢ Activities:

o Provided Hispanic CHARACTER COUNTS! banners and character development activities for ESOL teachers and staff to use with new ESOL students.

o Recognized ESOL students as CHARACTER COUNTS! Students of the Month.

o In addition to South Fork High School, Hispanic CHARACTER COUNTS! banners were given to the Newcomers Program Martin County School District, Indiantown Middle and Warfield Elementary.

➢ Evaluation and Outcome:

o Goal – ESOL teachers, paraprofessionals and facilitators will be able to incorporate the Six Pillars of Character into their daily lessons and activities. Classroom management will be improved and there will be improved communication with ESOL students regarding expected behaviors. Outcome – Positive results as ESOL teachers are able to explain the Pillar of the month, school expectations using the banners.

o Goal – To reduce the number of misbehaviors in newly enrolled English Speakers of Other Languages students. Outcome – Data was not submitted.

19. Stuart Middle School, Kelly Dawedeit – I AM SMS ($485.00)

➢ Purpose: To expand the school’s culture of celebrating positive behavior traits among their entire student population and staff by creating a visual reminder / vision board of students, faculty and staff that showcases the Six Pillars of Character.

➢ Activities / Evaluation and Outcomes:

o Due to a family emergency of the grant recipient, the project was not able to be implemented this year. The project will be implemented and reported upon in 2018 – 2019.

o Evaluation / Outcome: Using a baseline from 2017 – 2018 and through data collected throughout the school year 2018 - 2019, they will be looking for a minimum of 25% increase in Positive Behavior referrals and more than a 10% decrease in discipline referrals.

Holly Laiben

Director, CHARACTER COUNTS! in Martin County

United Way of Martin County

10 SE Central Parkway, Suite 101

Stuart, FL 34994

(772) 283-4800, ext. 234

hlaiben@

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