Educational Policy Campaign:
Nurturing is the Foundation


At Schools of Conscience we are building the nurturing capacity of K-12 schools in partnership with Attitutor, LLC.

This site provides insights into nurturing as the support of primary human needs.

We are fighting aginst the epidemic of disengagement that afflicts 70% of all students and teachers in the USA.



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Read Books

  • Attitude First: A Leadership Strategy for Educational Success
    This was Don Berg's first book in which he laid out a broad framework for understanding and teaching attitude first in opposition to the academics first approach of maninstream schooling. (Links directly to the site of Trafford, the publisher.)


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    Deeper Learning: Educational Management Can Prevent Motivational Deficiencies
    Educational management can address the major problems in schools today: drop-outs, lack of achievement, and fauxcheivement (going through the motions of achievement, without mastering the material.)

    • A Professional Company that Accepts “Help Me Do My Homework” Requests Students who struggle with homework can request help from academic experts. They’ll provide the help they need.
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    Hidden Curriculum: The Hidden Curriculum and Education Psychology
    The hidden curriculum is more powerful than the explicit curriculum, so it needs more careful design. But, currently it's ignored.

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    The Story of School: History of Education And The Story of School
    The history of education has to go back further than the industrial revolution to tell the whole story of school.

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    Growing Mental Maps: The Over-Simplification of Educational Reform
    Beware of educational reform proposals co-written by Hollywood directors and comedy writers.

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    Teach Attitude 1st: Why Teach Attitude?
    We must teach attitude because it is more elementary than teaching academics, so if children don't master attitude first, they are being cheated.

    • Attitude Basics
      Short introductory videos explaining Attitude Basics for education reform.

    • Attitude Metaphor for Minds
      Attitude is how you arrange the mental furniture of your body/mind recreational vehicle as you explore the world of your experiences.

    • Metaphorical Definition of Attitude: It's a Matter of Life or Death
      Attitude is the one factor that predicts survival in disaster. Teachers need a metaphorical definition of attitude that helps them anticipate the true needs of learners.

    • Technical Definition of Attitude
      Educators need a technical definition of attitude to be able to develop objective measures of teaching attitude successfully.

    • Towards a General Definition of Attitude: Minds Are More Than You Think
      Your mind is more than you think. Consider a definition of attitude in which your mind extends beyond your body in things around you and the behavior of other people.

    • Positive Attitude in Reality
      Positive attitude is more than thinking good thoughts, it's the ability to access a beneficial state of mind regardless of your situation.

    • Re-reading Viktor Frankl's Man’s Search For Meaning: Writing In Spite of My Schooling
      Starting with Viktor Frankl's quote about attitude learn how the stories we are told, and tell ourselves, create who we are.
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    Nurturing In Schools: Nurturing Education Policy is the Ultimate K-12 Solution
    Education policy currently fails to nurture most students and teachers and this is the central moral and practical problem with schools.

    • Attitutor Learning Theory
      Learning is automatic, unconscious and impossibe to avoid. A learning theory based on learning, not just teaching.

    • Definition of Education
      A proper definition of education is NOT the delivery of information, it is cognitive mapping of reliable access to optimal states of mind.

    • Why Is Education Important?
      This exploration of how education, properly understood, provides individual fulfillment, fosters resilience and may ensure our species survival answers the question: Why Is Education Important?

    • Honoring The State's Interest In Learning
      How is the State's interest in learning served when parents can be prosecuted for homeschooling? Recent prosecutions indicate that some States are operating under mistaken assumptions about learning.

    • Our Education System: What are the Nuts and Bolts?
      Our education system today should make optimal states of mind a higher priority than literacy.

    • Definition of Education
      A proper definition of education is NOT the delivery of information, it is cognitive mapping of reliable access to optimal states of mind.

    • Being a good teacher, what's it take?
      Being a good teacher requires both passion and a place that supports you to be passionate.

    • What is Teaching?
      The obvious core of teaching is facilitating learning, but teachers are, more importantly, cultural catalysts.

    • My Big Teaching Idea
      My big teaching idea came on a baseball field and instantly convinced me that the idea that teaching is just delivering units of knowledge, skills, and information to students is utterly absurd.

    • Lifelong Learning is Lifelong Thrival
      Lifelong learning is a buzz word for something that everyone wants to achieve, but does it really mean something important?

    • What’s A Teacher To Do?
      Teachers who disagree with the status quo face a big challenge, but sanity is possible if they stay focused on the 3R's of respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness.

    • A Policy Framework for Nurturing in Education
      A policy framework for nurturing in education was presented as a poster entitled "Nurturing is the Foundation" Policy Framework at the 6th International Self-Determination Thoery Conference in 2016.
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    The Hero's Game: Leadership in Education: How to Play the Hero's Game
    Leadership in education today is about heroism, but hero's have to play the right game or they lose. Learn what game is afoot.


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    Parenting: Parenting Advice And Resources From Parents To Parents
    Parenting advice and resources for parents from parents.

    • Parenting Styles or Childing Styles
      Parenting styles researchers assert that if you simply behave right as a parent your children will behave right, too. This is wrong, parenting is a moral, not behavioral challenge.

    • Expert Parenting Advice, Can We Trust It?
      What’s a parent to do when parenting experts disagree? Some expert parenting advice seems absurd, but is it true?

    • Parenting Facts
      Parenting fact #5: Parenting is a moral challenge not a behavioral one. Read all five parenting facts here.

    • Most Schools Won't Fit Book: Every Parent's Dilemma And What To do About It
      This book reveals the central problem affecting schools today and provides quick solutions parents and teachers can use immediately.

    • A Nurturing Educational Policy Will Solve Every Parent's Dilemma
      An educational policy to ensure schools become nurturing places is presented in the book Every Parent's Dilemma: Why Do We Ignore Schools That Nurture Children? by Don Berg.


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    Don's Motivation Research: Intrinsic Motivation Research and Other Resources by Don Berg
    Don Berg's intrinsic motivation research suggests that two alternative school settings do a better job of maintaining motivation in their students than traditional schools. This page also includes handouts for some workshops.


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    Site Information and Miscellaneous Pages

  • About/Contact Me Button: About Don Berg
    Brief background information about Don Berg, creator of Teach-Kids-Attitude-1st.com.

  • Join Button: Join Schools of Conscience!

  • Privacy Policy

  • Attitude 1st Blog Button: Teach Kids Attitude 1st Blog

  • Resolution Endorsement Form: Nurturing Is The Foundation Resolution

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