JTE -- What did you learn?

[Eagle732]

Well I guess when your Roundtable Commissioner gathers a room full of Webelos Den Leaders and tells them JTE is how they should evaluate troops and what parents should use to choose a troop it's no wonder I have a different perspective on it.

Time will tell how it's used and if it is helpful to weaker units or is used against them.

[OwntheNight]

"The Commish held up the JTE form and said "this is what you need to be looking at when you're looking for a troop!". When I told our committee how district was promoting JTE as THE way to measure the quality of a unit they understood how important it was.I wouldn't be surprised to see all unit JTE ratings on the district website in the future. Why bother visiting several troops when Webs and parents can just join the nearest Gold unit? "

 

When JTE came out, I went over the metrics and realized this immediately. District will use this as a marketing tool for the better performing units. Instead of judging a unit on it's merits, It's now being judged by a survey rating. We've filled out our JTE, to play nice. I haven't gotten the results yet from our CC. but last check, we were close to Gold level, because we were able to add 12 boys to our pack, even though, the year before, we lost 2 dens to internal turmoil. I don't see us as a Gold performing unit. I see us us as a unit that is rebuilding, and trying to get on solid ground. Next year will be the true measure of how were improving, but in all likely hood, we will actually drop to a Silver level because of losing a very large Webelos den to crossover. Yet in reality, we've built the pack from the ground up. Unfortunately, that won't show in Metrics. Only the people who were there will know it happened.

[qwazse]

Finally got my crew's key-4 youth in one room on the same night. Had him fill out the form. We didn't even meet bronze!

 

Guess that means you all can ignore every word I type on this forum! But just in case you don't ...

 

I asked them what they thought ... here are their general impressions

The form stinks.

We're still a good crew.

We break the mold!

 

Training is a big issue. The adults have not taken VLST and only two of the youth have ILSC. Youth protection stragglers are delaying timely submission of our charter.

 

I made it clear that they are a good group of kids and they have adults who love them. I'm not about to leave and look for a gold crew to advise!

 

Still, when they elect officers next week, they need to realize that they should devote a little more time than they have in the past to the life of the crew. I suggested they pick one weak category to work on for next year. Even if they don't wind up bringing up our total score, they will at least give the crew a different emphasis this year. And, for high-school age kids, variety is the spice of life.

 

[Eagle732]

Big difference in getting a crew of youth to implement changes for the sake of a form than the adults of a troop or pack.

I'm sure their general impressions are spot on. Sounds like you have a "Gold" crew irregardless of what some form says!

 

[qwazse]

Thanks E,

 

They are a stellar bunch of kids.

 

But I'm not one of those grade inflation types. I'm also not inclined to go belly-aching because it's harder to corral older youth and their parents toward a common vision.

 

Fact is, if they operate just a little bit more like a unit, they will that much more of a blessing to the youth in their community. JTE is just a map of where you are. You still have to decide if you want to go anywhere with it.