Journey to Excellence (JTE) give you feedback on your Scout unit’s progress during the entire Scouting year.
And now the team behind JTE wants feedback to make the JTE requirements and scorecards even more useful.
JTE — the BSA’s tool for helping leaders plan their program, monitor progress and assess their Scouting success — uses separate scoresheets for packs, troops, teams, crews, posts, ships, districts and councils. You can access the 2016 scorecards here.
Like a baseball manager shuffling the lineup to find the perfect mix, the volunteers and professionals on the JTE team review and revise the JTE scorecards every year.
Right now they’re working on the 2017 Journey to Excellence scorecards, which take effect on Jan. 1, 2017. And they want your guidance and feedback. Leave a comment below or email your suggestion to jte@scouting.org.
What is JTE?
Scouting magazine offered a comprehensive overview of Journey to Excellence, including the hows and whys, in our January-February 2016 issue.
Here are some basic reminders.
Units are evaluated in four areas:
- Planning and budget
- Membership
- Program
- Leadership
Units score points in those areas and total those points to receive bronze, silver or gold status. Bronze is “effective,” silver is “excellent” and gold is “exceptional.”
The scoring ensures that no one area is mandatory. Scouting success takes many forms, and JTE success employs a “balanced scorecard” as a result.
The standards ensure that both large Scout units and small ones can succeed — as long as they provide good Scouting to youth.
Units that achieve JTE bronze, silver or gold can earn a ribbon for their unit flag, a plaque and a patch for their uniform.
How are JTE standards determined and revised?
Each June, leaders from all over the country meet to consider performance by units, districts and councils and recommendations for improvement. They look at performance during the year; analyze suggestions, questions and problems submitted during the year; and decide which requirements to change, if any.
Each year’s standards take effect on Jan. 1.
Any Scout leader, member or parent with a suggestion for improving the JTE scorecards should leave a comment below or send it to jte@scouting.org.
Story idea via Neil Lupton, chairman of the national Journey to Excellence task force.
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