Glasser Quality Schools  ## Metadata - Author: [[Great Valley Academy]] - Full Title: Glasser Quality Schools - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - #education - #choice_theory - #competency_based_learning Author: Great Valley Academy Source: Great Valley Academy website Reference: https://www.greatvalleyacademy.com/pages/Glasser-Quality-Schools.html date created: 2025-08-21 00:00 --- # Title: Glasser Quality Schools at Great Valley Academy ## Table of Contents: - [📚 Overview](#-overview) - [🧠 Choice Theory](#-choice-theory) - [🎓 Competency-Based Classroom](#-competency-based-classroom) - [💛 School Culture: Safe, Loved, and Learning](#-school-culture-safe-loved-and-learning) - [🔬 Neurobiological Rationale](#-neurobiological-rationale) - [🤝 Seven Caring Habits vs. Seven Deadly Habits](#-seven-caring-habits-vs-seven-deadly-habits) - [🗒️ Notes](#-notes) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items (Developer Advocate/OSPO Alignment)](#-action-items-developer-advocateospo-alignment) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [📖 References](#-references) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - William Glasser, M.D., The Quality School - Great Valley Academy: Glasser Quality Schools page (see Reference link above) ## 📝 Summary: Great Valley Academy (GVA) frames its educational model around William Glasser’s Choice Theory and a Competency-Based Classroom (CBC). Choice Theory promotes internal behavioral control through seven “caring habits” (caring, contributing, befriending, listening, encouraging, trusting, supporting), replacing external control behaviors (judging, nagging, rewarding to control, criticizing, blaming, complaining, punishing). The CBC focuses on students producing “quality work” that meets or exceeds standards via measurable, continuous improvement and self-evaluation. GVA emphasizes a nurturing culture—“safe, loved, and learning”—and cites neurobiological research aligning with a relationship-centered, relevant, and meaningful learning environment. The model suggests character education as a third pillar alongside Choice Theory and CBC. ## 📖 Main Content: - GVA claims to be the only school in Stanislaus County explicitly grounded in Glasser’s research, offering families alternative pedagogical choices and teachers innovative professional pathways. - Choice Theory governs interactions across the community—instruction, discipline, and training—favoring relationship-based approaches over coercion. - The CBC expects all students to demonstrate competency through continuous improvement and concurrent self-evaluation, shifting from “good enough” to “quality work” that aligns to state standards. - The motto—students are “safe, loved and learning”—signals a holistic focus on emotional security as a precondition for learning. - The school connects its approach to neurobiological insights: memory is strengthened by relevance, breadth of synaptic connections, and frequent reinforcement; hence instruction should be meaningful and relationship-rich. This leads to a call for robust character education as a foundational component. - External control psychology is framed as destructive to relationships; Choice Theory’s Seven Caring Habits are positioned as the antidote to the Seven Deadly Habits. ### 🗒️ Notes - Glasser Model - GVA’s distinctive positioning in Stanislaus County as Glasser-based. - Expands educational choices; encourages innovative teaching methods. - Two core tenets - Choice Theory: internal control; seven caring habits; avoid seven harmful habits. - Competency-Based Classroom: all students demonstrate mastery via quality work; continuous improvement; self- and co-evaluation. - Interaction model - Relationship-based across instruction and discipline; eschews coercion. - Aim: non-threatening, safe environment fostering belonging and motivation. - Assessment and standards - Students can locate their learning against state standards. - Shift from compliance/minimum proficiency to demonstrable quality. - Culture and motto - “Safe, loved and learning.” Emotional security boosts learning readiness. - Neurobiological rationale - Relevance and connection strengthen memory via synaptic networks. - Relationship-rich, meaningful content enhances retention. - Worldview/culture ties justify character education emphasis. - Habits framing - Seven Caring Habits vs. Seven Deadly Habits. - External control degrades relationships; internal control preserves them. ## 📖 References: - William Glasser, M.D. The Quality School. - Great Valley Academy: Glasser Quality Schools page (site text). ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: - Original idea: “Choice Theory helps us define our interactions… as relationship based, contrasted to external control or coercion.” - Paraphrase: The school uses Choice Theory to shape how everyone engages—teaching, discipline, and training—by centering relationships instead of relying on control or pressure. - Original idea: “A CBC… expects all students to do quality work… measurable continuous improvement through concurrent and self-evaluation.” - Paraphrase: In the competency-based approach, every learner is held to producing high-quality outcomes, tracking steady progress with ongoing checks and personal reflection. ## 📰 Newsletter: ICYMI: Learning the web just got friendlier, funnier, and more future-proof. This week we’re exploring how relationship-centered teaching (think Glasser’s Choice Theory) mirrors the best practices in onboarding new WordPress contributors: psychological safety, clear feedback loops, and competency milestones. On the tech front: PHP 8.x niceties, JavaScript ergonomics with modern tooling, and a CSS round-up featuring container queries and :has(). Community spotlight: welcoming first-time contributors from WordCamps worldwide, plus a shoutout to open-source ambassadors mentoring newcomers. New plugins to try: performance profiling helpers, AI-assisted docs writers, and accessibility linters. Pro tip: set up GitHub Actions to run PHPStan, ESLint, and Playwright on every PR—quality isn’t a gate; it’s a guide. Keep building, keep learning, and remember: quality work thrives where people feel safe, loved, and learning. For deeper dives, check out the WordPress Developer Blog and the Make WP teams to join the fun. ## ✅ Action Items (Developer Advocate/OSPO Alignment): Use this prompt to align each article with your goals: - Purpose: Explain how the article’s core ideas relate to open-source advocacy, contributor engagement, and education in WordPress. - Map concepts: - Psychological safety → Contributor retention and inclusive community norms. - Choice Theory’s internal motivation → Empowering autonomous contributors; avoiding coercive governance. - Competency-Based Classroom → Competency frameworks for contributors (badges, learning paths, mentorship). - Continuous self-evaluation → PR templates, checklists, and contributor self-assessments. - Caring Habits → Community codes of conduct emphasizing listening, encouragement, and trust. - Character education → Values-aligned governance and transparent decision-making in an OSPO. - OSPO Director trajectory: - Define competency matrices for roles (triager, reviewer, maintainer). - Establish non-punitive feedback and review rituals. - Publish transparent roadmaps, RFC processes, and funding reports. - Build inclusive onboarding programs with measurable progression. - Output requested for each article: - 1–2 paragraph synthesis linking article themes to open-source practice. - A table of proposed interventions (policy, tooling, education). - KPIs: newcomer conversion rate, time-to-first-PR, review latency, retention at 3/6/12 months. - Risks/mitigations: avoid external-control dynamics; reinforce supportive habits. - Communication plan: blogs, talks, workshops aligning with WordPress community values. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - H1: Relationship-centered discipline incre - Summary: GVA is the only school in the Stanislaus County area based on the research of Dr. William Glasser. - URL: https://www.greatvalleyacademy.com/pages/Glasser-Quality-Schools.html #### Glasser Model GVA is the only school in the Stanislaus County area based on the research of Dr. William Glasser, providing parents and children with expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities that are available within the public school system, creating new professional opportunities for teachers, and encouraging the use of different and innovative teaching methods. A Glasser Quality School has two tenets that define it as such: Choice Theory and the Competency Based Classroom. Choice theory is a theory of internal behavioral control that stresses 7 positive and connecting habits (caring, contributing, befriending, listening, encouraging, trusting and supporting) while teaching students to avoid harmful habits (judging, nagging, rewarding to control, criticizing, blaming, complaining and punishing). William Glasser, M.D. aptly describes the application of Choice Theory in a school setting in his seminal book, The Quality School. Choice Theory is the basis for determining the model of interaction between all members of the school community. Choice Theory helps us define our interactions (including times of instruction, student discipline, training) as relationship based, contrasted to external control or coercion. It will allow us to provide a non-threatening, safe school where the students feel loved and cared for, creating an optimal environment where learning can take place. This environment, coupled with GVS, allows us to meet the goal of a Competency Based Classroom ("CBC"). A CBC, in essence, expects all students to do quality work, demonstrating competency in their learning. In a CBC, the students enjoy measurable continuous improvement through concurrent and self-evaluation. The students can show and explain where their learning matches up to the State Standards and staff has moved from student work that is just “good enough” to “quality work” that meets and exceeds the standards. School becomes a joyful place to be where fun becomes the genuine reward for learning. ***The motto of Great Valley Academy is that children will be safe, loved and learning. Emotionally secure people learn best.*** The work of William Glasser, M.D. as described in his book The Quality School underpins the social-emotional aspects of our model. Recent neurobiological findings support the tenets of Choice Theory as articulated by Dr. Glasser. In The Quality School, Dr. Glasser asserts that relevant and meaningful information should be taught in school in a non-threatening environment that emphasizes relationships. Current thinking in neurophysiology supports this stance. It appears that memory is a function of breadth of synaptic distribution and a function of frequency of stimulation of networks of synaptic associations. Connection or relevance to other “meaningful” experiences is therefore a key to memory and learning. As networks of “linked” synapses are reinforced fewer stimuli tend to activate whole networks. This is the reason certain sensations bring to memory whole floods of rich memories. One attends to that which is relevant and relevance is a function of worldview. One's worldview is largely a function of culture and thus a strong well-defined character education curriculum is the third foundation of our model. #### Habits Choice theory, with the Seven Caring Habits, replaces external control psychology and the Seven Deadly Habits. External control, the present psychology of almost all people in the world, is destructive to relationships. When used, it will destroy the ability of one or both to find satisfaction in that relationship and will result in a disconnection from each other. | | | | --- | --- | | **Seven Caring Habits** | **Seven Deadly Habits** | | Supporting | Criticizing | | Encouraging | Blaming | | Listening | Complaining | | Accepting | Nagging | | Trusting | Threatening | | Respecting | Punishing | | Negotiating differences | Bribing, rewarding to control |, Glasser Quality Schools, Great Valley Academy, 01jdf8yj9jkft1dh0pgyy3pqkk.