what is journey to excellence

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Journey to Excellence Awards

Home > Resources > Awards & Recognition > Journey to Excellence Awards

You think you’re making all the right moves for your Cub Scouts, Scouts, or Venturers, but do you really know? With the BSA’s Journey to Excellence scorecards in hand, you can answer that question with a satisfying yes.

Journey to Excellence, often shortened to JTE, is a self-evaluation tool that lets unit leaders see, quantitatively, how well their unit is meeting the goals of Scouting. Think of it as a progress report. You can check in regularly to make sure you’re delivering the best possible program for our Scouts. The process is simple, and the benefits are tangible.

Why is JTE worth your time?

JTE scorecards offer these benefits:

• A framework for planning the year with standards based on what successful units do to continually improve.
• A method for evaluating your unit in tangible ways (number of campouts, number of youth advancing, etc.)
• Guidance in areas where you might do better and early warning of potential problems.
• Specific guidelines and standards of what is considered good performance.
• Benchmarking to get ideas and tips from other good units.

What do I do?

Download the JTE scorecard for your unit. At the beginning of each calendar year, print out the latest JTE scorecard from this website .

Ask your Unit Committee members to fill in the sections corresponding to their function in the unit: finance, membership, program, leadership. This is where tracking workbooks, available here , come in handy. The JTE scorecards work best when several Scouters participate in tracking.

Review your progress. At the end of the year and at regular intervals throughout the year, monitor your progress as you go for gold in JTE. See where you aren’t maximizing your JTE points and find specific improvements. Appoint a volunteer to hold the unit accountable for those changes.

Complete your scorecard and turn it in. On December 31 of each year, JTE scorecards are due to your unit commissioner and district executive.

Units that plan ahead aren’t surprised by their score; they’re expecting it. Like a marathon runner checking his or her watch after each mile, a unit should check its scorecard regularly to aim for gold.

What is Journey to Excellence, and why should you care?

by Tim Pacl | Sep 17, 2021 | Home Page Articles , NL - 2021-10 Featured

Journey to Excellence, often shortened to JTE, is a self-evaluation tool that lets unit leaders see, quantitatively, how well their unit is meeting the goals of Scouting. Think of it as a progress report. You can check in regularly to make sure you’re delivering the best possible program for our Scouts and Venturers.

The process is simple, and the benefits are tangible. The following link is a helpful guide on why JTE is important. https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2019/02/01/journey-to-excellence/

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Who can wear the Journey to Excellence patch on their uniform?

Everyone in the organization — the head coach, the trainers, even the person who refills those little cups of sports drink — gets recognized in a tangibly shiny way.

The same logic applies when a pack, troop or crew earns Journey to Excellence recognition.

Everyone who has a role in the unit that earned Scouting honors deserves to wear the JTE pin or patch.

In some units, confusion persists about who wears the JTE patch in a qualifying unit. That’s the case in David’s troop, so he emailed me for clarification.

I hope you can assist me. My troop recently earned the Journey to Excellence award. My son got his patch, and so did I. However, my wife was told that since she is on the committee and not an assistant Scoutmaster, she could not have one. Is this correct? I have been l combing through everything I can search for on JTE, but I cannot find who can and cannot wear the patch. Do you know where I should search for this? Yours in Scouting, David

What is Journey to Excellence?

Quick sidebar for people who might be hearing about JTE for the first time.

Journey to Excellence , often shortened to JTE, is a self-evaluation tool that lets unit leaders see, quantitatively, how well their unit is meeting the goals of Scouting.

Think of it as a progress report. You can check in regularly to make sure you’re delivering the best possible program for our Scouts and Venturers.

Units earn points toward bronze, silver or gold JTE status — with gold being the highest.

Members of those units that achieve gold, silver or bronze status are eligible to wear the JTE patch. It goes on the right sleeve under the patrol patch — or about 4 inches from the top of the sleeve.

Read more about JTE in this explainer .

Who can wear the JTE patch?

With that covered, let’s go back to David’s question.

For the answer, I checked with Jeff Rand, a JTE expert who works on the BSA’s performance management team.

Jeff says a JTE award is something everyone in the unit can — and should — celebrate.

Yes, that means the front-line assistant Scoutmaster or den leader who attends every meeting, campout and event.  But just as important, it means the pack or troop committee member whose efforts behind the scenes keep the unit running smoothly.

Journey to Excellence uses a balanced approach to measure a successful unit. In doing so everyone in the unit has a role in its success, both youth and adult. For example, committee members are engaged in developing a planned budget, fundraising, recruiting youth members, and selecting adult leaders — all of which are JTE measures. Therefore, all registered youth and adults are entitled to wear the appropriate JTE patch as an emblem of their unit’s success.

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Journey to Excellence

Scouting’s  Journey to Excellence (JTE) is the BSA’s planning, performance, and recognition program designed to encourage and reward the success of our units, districts and councils. It is meant to encourage excellence in providing a quality program at all levels of the BSA.  It lets unit leaders self-evaluate and see, quantitatively, how well their unit is meeting the goals of Scouting.

Here are the major changes in the JTE scorecards for 2022.

• The standards are written as activities that the unit  will  do. This is to emphasize that JTE is primarily a planning tool.
• The Cub Scout scorecard has many changed standards. This is because of changes in the Cub Scout program.
• For standard #10, Gold now includes recruiting a new leader. We have found that the best units continually recruit parents and other adults who have never been involved in Scouting.

There is no requirement, no expectation and, in fact, we might discourage a unit from believing that they should achieve Gold in all JTE criteria.  A great unit is balanced in the service that it provides to youth. There is no shame and no problem if a unit achieves Silver or Bronze. That unit is serving youth. 

• Tracking Workbooks
• Unit JTE Status Record Sheet

DISTRICT TOOLS

• District JTE Training Outline
• District Total Available Youth Tool User Guide

COUNCIL TOOLS

SERVICE PROJECTS

• Service Hours Input and Information  
• Unit Tips for Success
• Council Tips for Success
• Eagle Scout and Exploring Service Projects Entry

SUPPORT DOCUMENTS

• Purchase JTE patches and plaques

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• What’s in it for Me?
• 2020 Journey to Excellence Changes

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Apart from the free survey software, we also have access to QuestionPro’s  free survey templates  . We’ve found many of them useful and powerful to collect insights from various stakeholders of our organization.

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Journey to Excellence Update

Scouting’s Journey to Excellence (JTE) is the BSA aspirational planning, performance and recognition program designed to encourage and reward success of our units, districts, and councils. It is meant to encourage excellence and continuous improvement in providing a quality program at all levels of the BSA.

Many unit leaders have found JTE metrics to be an effective continuous improvement tool. As previously announced, changes were made to 2020 objectives to reflect the impact of COVID 19. For this reason, the unit JTE recognition program will continue, however, the district and council level JTE recognition will be discontinued for 2020 and 2021. JTE at the unit level will continue, and recognition patches will continue to be available for units and their members.

Unit Recognition Revised unit criteria, due to the pandemic, is available at https://www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to-excellence/unit/2020-scorecards-english/ . The criteria intentionally provides units a great deal of latitude due to the significant variability of programming due to local pandemic regulations.

2021 unit scorecards are available at https://www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to-excellence/unit/ .

Journey to Excellence for districts and councils represents data which is important to help districts and councils deliver a quality program. A new membership reporting tool is under development to aid districts and councils with key membership data including gender and ethnic diversity. You will soon hear more about this.

Unfortunately, the council and district JTE dashboard (dials) and finish line report require substantial manual compilation and data management each month. With the significant reduction in staff at the BSA national service center, the staff support necessary to keep the dashboard current is simply not available. Consequently, it is necessary to decommission the JTE dashboard and finish line report effective September 18.

We suggest that even if JTE recognition is not available, the JTE standards for districts and councils still represent a vision of good Scouting and can be used in strategic planning.

We will be considering what assessment and/or recognition system will be most helpful to councils and districts for 2022 and beyond. It is very premature to speculate on what that might be. Questions can be directed to [email protected] .

Thank you for all you do for Scouting and for your support of the Journey to Excellence program.

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Journey To Excellence

“Scouting’s Journey to Excellence” is the BSA’s council performance recognition program designed to encourage and reward success and measure the performance of our units. It is meant to encourage excellence in providing a quality program at all levels of the BSA.

How the Journey To Excellence Program Works

Each criterion has a point value for bronze, silver and gold. As you achieve at one of those levels, you will earn those points. Each criterion will be scored and then you’ll have a total score. You will need a prescribed number of total points to achieve bronze, and the same for silver and gold. These point values may change from year to year. As you earn more points, you’ll achieve a higher level. Scouting.org/JTE

What Journey to Excellence Brings to Your Unit

1. a framework for planning the year..

• The Journey to Excellence standards is based on what successful units do to continually improve.
• If your unit plans to achieve gold or silver Journey to Excellence, you’ll have a strong and active program.

2. A method for evaluating your unit.

• Journey to Excellence provides tangible measurements based on things you are likely already tracking, such as how many campouts you have, how many youths are advancing, etc., and uses simple ways to calculate your performance.

3. Guidance in areas where you might do better.

• As you track your performance against the Journey to Excellence standards, you can easily see where you could do better.

4. Specific guidelines and standards of what is considered good performance.

• Journey to Excellence has specific, simple measures to help you. You can easily compare what you are doing against the standards.

5. Early warning of potential problem areas.

• You track any areas where your unit is not performing as you might like and have plenty of time to make corrections.

6. Recognition for good Scouting.

• You can proudly receive your bronze, silver, or gold recognition for your Scouting unit for the year.

7. Benchmarking to get ideas and tips from other good units.

• You can receive help and best practices in areas where other units have met the gold standard.
• In the areas where you are doing well, you can give help and ideas to other units.

For More Information Click Here!

Commissioner resources.

Journey to Excellence !!!!

What is Journey to Excellence 2022

• Click here for the national worksheets for Journey to Excellence or JTE
• 2022 JOURNEY TO EXCELLENCE   UPDATE   Journey to Excellence   is the Boy Scouts of America program   to   help Packs, Troops, Crews, Ships and Posts   to   plan, monitor and evaluate their performance and their ability   to   serve youth. There are specific criteria for the unit   to   plan and accomplish.

The 2022 Journey to Excellence Standards are now available. Here are the major changes in the JTE scorecards for 2022. 1) The standards are written as activities that the unit will do. This is to emphasize that JTE is primarily a planning tool. 2) The Cub Scout scorecard has many changed standards. This is because of changes in the Cub Scout program. 3) For standard #10, Gold now includes recruiting a new leader. We have found that the best units continually recruit parents and other adults who have never been involved in Scouting. There is no requirement, no expectation and, in fact, we might discourage a unit from believing that they should achieve Gold in all JTE criteria. A great unit is balanced in the service that it provides to youth. There is no shame and no problem if a unit achieves Silver or Bronze. That unit is serving youth. We regard the various colors as meaning: Bronze – Effective Silver – Excellent Gold – Exceptional Please share with us your thoughts about JTE and any suggestions that you have for improvement. Please sent them to [email protected]

Making sense of JTE

The Journey to Excellence (JTE) program helps lodge officers measure their lodge’s performance and steer the local Order of the Arrow (OA) program to stay on track with our national mission. Each year, lodge leaders use the results of the annual JTE program to identify strong points and set specific goals for improvement. The goal of JTE is continued improvement – each and every year. All in all, JTE helps your lodge succeed!

How does it work?

At the beginning of each year, lodge officers review the JTE requirements in six widely-varying categories and set goals to achieve a Bronze, Silver, or Gold score in each of the seventeen requirements. During the year, information on your lodge’s events, unit elections, inductions, camping promotion, membership, and service projects are entered into LodgeMaster, the OA application that tracks and manages all lodge OA data. At the end of each year, the JTE data is totaled, and an overall performance score is earned by your lodge. Well-performing lodges earn an overall Bronze, Silver, or even Gold level JTE score for the year and are entitled to wear a special pin on their lodge flap!

JTE helps us improve the OA program. By gathering the performance data of all 275 lodges nationwide, we can begin to see the big picture: the nationwide patterns of success of the OA program. JTE enables individual lodges to see how they stand in comparison to national averages and to learn from the successes of some of our best lodges nationwide. JTE motivates continued improvement for all lodges – large and small lodges alike, while making it easy for challenged lodges to identify important areas where improvement is needed. However, even the most successful lodges are challenged to improve and achieve the Gold JTE level -- this top status is not easy! 

Why is JTE important?

The seventeen JTE requirements have been carefully chosen to give lodges “guidance on [their] journey.” They help us identify the numerous ways by which our lodges can be successful and keep us on track to achieve our full mission. A well-rounded lodge not only has a great program that keeps members involved and interested, but is financially sound, supports the council, serves its units, and develops youth leaders. 

JTE allows us to take advantage of technology available today to track the details and really see how we are doing in many aspects of the OA program. For example, you might ask, “Are we doing well with our unit elections? We held elections in 75% of our units and visited half of the units in which there were no eligible Scouts. Did we do okay?” Without JTE to consolidate and show us the average for all lodges nationwide, these questions are hard to answer. Yes, keeping OALM up-to-date with accurate information can be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort.

How do I get more information?

We encourage you to utilize the JTE webpage , the 2017 requirements and for even more details on each requirement, the JTE guidebook , which provides additional information and helpful resources on each requirement.

How did your lodge score last year? Check with your lodge chief, and use JTE to identify and create new strategies to improve your lodge’s journey to excellence!

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NDU's Best-Graduating Pharmacy Student With 4.83 CGPA Shares Journey To Academic Excellence

• A young Nigerian, Favour Orunchukwu Meye, achieved a remarkable feat by graduating as the best student in the Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University
• Meye attributed his academic excellence to consistency and adaptability to new things during his course of study
• During an exclusive chat with Legit.ng, Meye said he was a library person and spent most time at night studying and doing research

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Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 5 years of experience covering basic and tertiary education in Nigeria and worldwide

Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa state - Favour Orunchukwu Meye was the star of the day during the induction ceremony into the Pharmacy profession with a 4.83 CGPA from Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island in Bayelsa state.

Meye topped his class as he emerged as the best-graduating student of the 15th set of Pharmacy graduands.

WAEC: Man speaks on how his mum's N4000 for JAMB helped him secure admission before results came out

According to Meye, a 4.83 CGPA is the highest since the inception of the Faculty.

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During an exclusive interview with Legit.ng , Meye shared his journey to academic excellence and the key attributes that helped him achieve success in school.

“Consistency, I discovered over time that consistency is key. So, first of all, I will talk about my study pattern. I did not have one study pattern. I kept trying different patterns from the 100 level to the 500 level. And you know, I was able to adapt. So adaptability is another attribute because things will not always remain the same. The lecturers will change as well as the courses, so adaptability will help you.

“So in my 100 level, I had a different study pattern. But whatever worked for me, I was consistent. So that is consistency and adaptability. You know, those were two key attributes.”

“Big Brother comes with negativity”: BBNaija's Saga speaks on career growth, advises new housemates

Speaking about his study life while in school, the Delta state indigene said he was always very busy with school activities but did create time to study.

“So, for some times that I used to have free periods, for example, it comes with some classes, all right, especially 200 300 level, you know, let's say we had a schedule and the lecturer did not come, or there was something that came up and that class did not hold, I usually go into the library, all right.

“I was a library person from my 100 level to even my final year. So I usually go into the library to do some study. But then basically the amount and the time I spent studying was at night.”

The pharmacy graduate won several awards:

• PCN award and cash prize for emerging as Overall Best Graduating Student, Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island-Yenagoa
• Best Graduating student, department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice
• Best Graduating Student, Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology
• Board of Fellows Award of excellence and cash prize for emerging as Best Graduating Student of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice among others.

WAEC 2024 result: Boy who wants to study medicine scores eight A1's after getting 328 in UTME

Meye obtained distinction in all the departments of the Faculty of Pharmacy:

• Distinction in Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice (79%)
• Distinction in Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry (73%)
• Distinction in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology (78%)
• Distinction in Pharmacognosy and Herbal Medicine (76%)
• Distinction in Pharmacology and Toxicology (75%)
• Distinction in Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology (78%)

LASU’S best-graduating student with 4.98 CGPA

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Mubarak Olawale Olaniyi was the overall best-graduating student with a 4.98 CGPA at Lagos State University (LASU).

Olaniyi obtained a perfect Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 5.0 in his first semester at 100-level.

He was one of the 153 first-class graduates out of the 8,670 students who are graduating during the 27th convocation ceremony.

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Source: Legit.ng

Adekunle Dada (Politics and Current Affairs Editor) Adekunle Dada is a journalist with over 5 years of working experience in the media. He has worked with PM News, The Sun and Within Nigeria before joining Legit.ng as a Politics/Current Affairs Editor. He holds a B.Sc. in Mass Communication from Lagos State University (LASU). He can be reached via [email protected].