The CQC Poster-Plus Program for Education Enhancement
Description of the CQC Poster-Plus Program
The CQC Poster-Plus Program is a comprehensive enhancer of the education efforts of schools and others who work with young people. It could be called multivitamins for education.
The program has three interrelated purposes:
* (1) to stimulate students* motivation,
* (2) to stimulate their academic interests and
* (3) to stimulate their development of sound values.
The program consists of two basic materials:
* (1) a large, colorful classroom poster presenting students with Eight Great Points for their success, which is a unique summary of everything they will need in school and in life and
* (2) this Guidebook for helping teachers and others to reinforce the eight points in the poster.
In addition, there is a third item to help support the two school-based materials: a letter to parents suggesting ways they can help at home. The letter, designed to be folded into a three-panel brochure, is included in Appendix I of the Guidebook (see page56).
The program is an enhancer and is not designed as an additional curriculum subject. It helps develops students*appreciation of the importance of the school*s activities, both in the established curriculum and in the school*s efforts to ensure appropriate conduct.
The eight points which are the heart of the program are really matters for lifetime learning, starting with preschool. But it is difficult to teach little children and older ones at the same time. Therefore, unlike the prototype Guidebook which had no differences by grade levels, this Guidebook focuses on how to develop the eight points separately for three somewhat overlapping age/grade levels: lower elementary (roughly K-3), upper elementary (roughly 4-6), and secondary (roughly 7-12). This helps teachers adapt the program to their own classes, while providing flexibility for variations in student progress. Since the eight points are matters for lifetime learning, they are to be presented repeatedly, but in simpler form in earlier grades and with successively more substance at later stages.
The program is very flexible. It can easily fit differences in style and procedures among teachers, schools and systems. It can easily fit most of the range of student interests and experiences, including those from families of varying interests, education and backgrounds. It can also fit other institutions that work with the young, in mentoring, youth clubs and various remedial programs.
In secondary schools, where different teachers usually teach different subjects, groups of teachers may decide which of the eight points to allocate to particular classes. Some schools or some teachers may like to emphasize each of the eight points successively in a Point-of-the-Month plan. The next chapter includes several options for using the program in class.
Finally, the concept of success to which the program motivates students is not narrowly framed in terms of just money or prestige; instead, success is the kind that serves the individual and society in all major ways: family, career, citizenship and personal happiness.