Funded by the Kern Family Foundation, we focus on developing leaders of the highest caliber. Project GROW has three overarching objectives:
Objective 1
To cultivate powerful, transformational leadership founded on character in rural schools by growing and connecting people. The Twin States Rural Leader Network, serving the Black Belt, South Alabama, and East Mississippi regions, connects educators and leaders providing support and resources to rural schools.
Objective 2
Preparing teachers and leaders of character using UWA's innovative curriculum which facilitates virtuous development.
Objective 3
To facilitate the coordination of effort and resources of all Alabama Kern partners. UWA will work with other Kern partners in Alabama to maximize impact across the state by leveraging partnerships and resources to prevent duplication of services.
Our Core Values
As an initiative of UWA’s College of Education, Project GROW shares the College’s core values.
UWA prepares virtuous leaders and teachers in education using the Jubilee Center “Caught, Taught, Sought” model. UWA’s curriculum explores the components of virtues and integrates virtuous learning experiences that introduce the virtues, reinforce the virtues, and require application of the virtues.
| Performance Virtues | Moral/Ethical Virtues | Intellectual Virtues | Civic Virtues |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Responsibility | 1. Integrity (honesty, trustworthiness, fairness) | 1. Reflective | 1. Patriotism |
| 2. Initiative, motivated, self-directed | 2. Respect (for others, learning self, and environment) | 2. Foresight | 2. Service-minded / Altruistic |
| 3. Creativity (innovative) | 3. Courage | 3. Reasoning | 3. Tolerance / Diplomacy |
| 4. Professionalism (confidentiality, punctuality, competence, accountability, Kindness / Cooperation / Courtesy / Tact / Self-Control) | 4. Caring (kindness, courtesy, compassion, encouragement, supportiveness, generosity) | 4. Wisdom (Judgement) | 4. Humility |
| 5. Perserverance (focus, endurance, diligence) | 5. Self-Control (patience, loyalty, tolerance, self-regulation) | 5. Open-mindedness (objectivity) | 5. Collaborative / cooperative / inclusive |
Components of Virtue
- Virtue Perception: Noticing situations involving or standing in need of the virtues.
- Virtue Knowledge and Understanding: Understanding the meaning of the virtue term and why the virtue is important, individually and as part of a well-rounded, flourishing life of overall virtue, and being able to apply the virtue to episodes of one’s own and others’ lives.
- Virtue Emotion: Feeling the right virtue-relevant emotion in the right situation in the right way.
- Virtue Identity: Understanding oneself as strongly committed to the virtues.
- Virtue Motivation: Having a strong desire to act on the virtues.
- Virtue Reasoning: Discernment and deliberative action about virtues, including handling situations where virtues conflict or collide.
- Virtue Action and Practice: Doing the right thing in the right way.
Character virtues can be:
- Caught, through a positive school community, formational relationships, and a clear ethos.
- Taught, through the curriculum using teaching and learning strategies, activities, and resources.
- Sought, through chosen experiences that occur within and outside of the formal curriculum.