MBTI-MMTIC TEN-YEAR TEN-SCHOOL INITIATIVE

Introduction: A Ten-Year Plan

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A small group of individuals in Raleigh with positive long-term experiences with MBTI over the past 40 years learned of a new Myers-Briggs self-assessment for children called MMTIC, or the Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children.  They committed to develop a 10-year plan to introduce the idea of bringing Myers-Briggs self-assessments to students in K-12 public schools in Downtown Raleigh and near NCSU as a model for the potential of Myers-Briggs for all K-12 students.

MBTI has been a highly successful self-awareness/self-assessment instrument for adults for 50 years.  It is now time to bring this advantage to K-12 students beginning with the 3rd grade in elementary schools.  Myers-Briggs Type concepts with MMTIC self-assessments can support personal growth with the social-emotional issues that most all children experience.  It can help them better navigate their school years and life using Myers-Briggs Type.

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A Plan with Gradual Implementation and Applied Research

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Initial decisions were to invite approximately 10-12 public schools near Downtown Raleigh to participate through a mutual selection process for a ten-year implementation period.  This ten-year commitment is necessary to start this school initiative with gradual implementation of MMTIC at the rate of one grade per year.

 

Thus Myers-Briggs concepts and MMTIC need to start in the 3rd grade for elementary schools, 6th grade for middle schools, and 9th grade for high schools.

After proper principal, administration, faculty and school system introductions and preparations, which can take two or more years, a partner school can start implementation with their 3rd, 6th, or 9th grade students.  These students will then graduate with 3-4 years of Myers-Briggs experience, and be better for it as they advance their education to the next level.

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This gradual implementation allows for more comprehensive introductions of the Myers-Briggs ideas within the school with each starter year, so over 3-4 years of implementation the school can embrace at a deeper level an initiative which can run with the school for generations.  The start-up phase includes the 2-3 year awareness phase and the 3-4 year implementation phase.  This initiative can demonstrate one long-term solution for improving K-12 education in the USA and the world.

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This gradual approach allows for more thorough research and evaluation of each school initiative to confirm proper implementation and effectiveness.  Applied research to confirm successful implementation in different schools should continue until we have enough experience with well-researched projects to conclude more research will likely reach the same conclusions.  Evaluations alone would then become more important and less expensive than applied research.

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A Plan with Up To 10 School Partners

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This ten-year initiative began by selecting at least 3 elementary, 3 middle, and 3 high schools to participate in an awareness phase.  Believing this initiative should demonstrate an interest in all public schools, it was decided to invite participation from three well established charter schools, one at each of the elementary, middle and high school levels as a part of the 10 schools in the 10 year initiative.  They currently include Exploris Elementary and Middle School, and Longleaf High School.

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School invitations included offering one or more school administrators and teachers the opportunity to become MBTI certified after being selected by the principal.  The certified educator in turn offers the MBTI assessment to all school faculty for self-awareness and knowledge.  The self-assessment helps the school’s teachers understand and imagine its advantages and outcomes for their school and students.

The founding planners expected it may take 2-3 years at a minimum initially for any of the ten schools to commit to implementing this initiative.

 

To date, two schools—Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School and Longleaf Charter High School of the Arts—are the two schools to first move to implementation, Combs in 2018 and Longleaf in 2019.

 

Two Local Partnerships: WEP and Friday Institute

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Two institutions were identified as partners to begin this Ten-Year Ten-School Initiative.  The first was WakeEd Partnership (WEP), a community-business-funded organization to support the Wake County Public School System.  It has a 20+ year track record of supporting positive initiatives for the 190 schools and 160,000 students in the WCPSS.  President Steve Parrott and educator Teresa Pierrie have supported these efforts from the beginning of our development.

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A second local institution identified for a research partnership was The Friday Institute for Education Innovation, an important part of the College of Education at North Carolina State University.  The Friday Institute has positive relationships with the Wake County Public School System, the State Department of Public Instruction and the NC General Assembly.

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The Myers-Briggs Foundation and CAPT Partnerships

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Concurrent with forming a partnership with WakeEd, was developing an informal friendship and partnership with the Myers-Briggs Foundation and its Center for the Applications of Psychological Type.  Located in Gainesville, Florida, this partnership has been extremely positive and beneficial.  They have encouraged (1) the three levels of schools’ (elementary, middle, and high) approach, (2) proper applied research and (3) thorough training in Myers-Briggs concepts, especially in providing monthly teacher applications of type for the classroom.

 

We are being student-focused, and conservative about successful school implementation taking up to ten years.  We want the MMTIC students to matriculate to higher grade schools which are committed to bringing Myers-Briggs-MMTIC self-assessments to students through their teachers.

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Bringing MMTIC to the students begins by bringing MBTI for adults to the schools’ administrators, faculty and staff first.  We intend to gradually bring MBTI to the students’ parents so they can better understand and appreciate how this MMTIC initiative will help their child.  The parents will learn from their children, as well as the PTA or school administrators, delivering parent information about type and learning styles, etc.

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The Center for the Applications of Psychological Type, and especially President and CEO Betsy Styron has played an instrumental role advising us in Raleigh.  Betsy selected the MMTIC creator and instructor, Dr. Elizabeth Murphy, to work with Combs and now Longleaf as the schools in 2019 prepare its 3rd/4th and 9th grade teachers to teach utilizing Myers-Briggs concepts and principles in the classroom.

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The Myers-Briggs consulting services with each partner school include monthly electronic communications by Dr. Elizabeth Murphy with the teachers implementing MMTIC throughout the school year, and semi-annual training for all school faculty, and especially for teachers utilizing type in the classroom.

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As Combs is expanding to include the 4th grade for the 2019-20 school year, the 3rd grade teachers will become mentors throughout the school year for the 4th grade teachers implementing Myers-Briggs concepts for the first time.  This should be a mutually beneficial way to empower the teachers to become even better experts in their craft.

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President Styron and CAPT have offered support for certain research initiatives with the Friday Institute for Education Innovations at NCSU.  Dr. Kesstan Blandin, Vice President for Research at CAPT, has worked closely with the Friday Institute on these research initiatives at Combs.  All research conducted on this initiative is benefiting from the experiences of CAPT and their Myers-Briggs applications expertise, as well as the high quality of school-based research provided by the Friday Institute.

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President Styron and Dr. Blandin’s mutual cooperation with the Friday Center’s two expert researchers, Dr. Patricia Townsend and Dr. Allison Black-Maier, and eight Combs third grade teachers, has led to thorough and thoughtful research conducted at Combs for the third grade applications of type in the 2018-2019 school year.  This Research Report is an example of the quality of research we expect going forward.  It is also a testament to the continuous leadership provided by Combs’ Principal Muriel Summers and her faculty over the past twenty years.

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School #2: Longleaf High School Research Plans – 9th Grade

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Longleaf High School of the Arts intends to research its first-year implementation with a focus on four school outcomes: (1) “know ourselves” and (2) “self-mastery”, (3) “student retention” and (4) “resilience.”  The Longleaf research agenda will be relevant for all high schools across the USA addressing retention issues.

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The 10th and 11th grades at Longleaf will add a  focus on (5) career counseling using research on Myers-Briggs types and careers, and the Strong Career Interest Inventory.  The career focus beginning in the 10th grade will encourage students to become more academically motivated for being successful in their 10th and 11th grade studies in order to be accepted at the universities of their choice.

In preparation for bringing MBTI-MMTIC to Longleaf, Principal Johneka Williams and school founder Mike Brown have been MBTI-certified as well as Psychology teacher Alex Alberti, and school counselor Kristen Stephenson and parent Kirsten Wille.  Kirsten works in project management at Siemens Healthineers, and is interested in helping with parent education.

 

All the teachers and staff have taken the MBTI self-assessment as well as received periodic seminars lead by Mike Brown with Myers-Briggs concepts and related issues such as stress reduction, teamwork, etc. for three years, including new teachers.  This Longleaf preparation commitment to Myers-Briggs concepts and principals will provide a strong foundation for a successful program over the next four years.