Whether we like to think about it or not, our nation's culture is awash with negativity, incivility, insults, bickering, self-centeredness, violence, deaths, and hate groups. But there is a way to counteract these societal harms and resulting behaviors. In "The Validation Plan," author James E. Pirkle, PhD, gives a thorough presentation and analysis of a plan he developed to help students find the good in each other.

Implemented in hundreds of classrooms in kindergarten through twelfth grade in many different countries, the Validation Program promotes responsible citizenship and sound character, while reinforcing academic achievement. Pirkle shows how validation can be defined as a curriculum program, an integrated language arts program, where each student is totally engaged in writing, reading, speaking, and listening. The Validation Plan outlines the positive reasons for using the program, and it details how to successfully carry it out in schools.

Pirkle describes how the Validation Program engages and connects students while building the foundations for solid character development, and he communicates how it also provides teachers with a way to build supportive and concrete relationships among all students, subsequently creating a favorable classroom climate and positive school-wide culture.