The U.S. Department of Education in its Office of Educational Research and Improvement Fund for Improvement of Education "The Partnerships in Character Education Pilot Project Program" has designated 6 areas for youth leadership development. Rising Stars addressed these areas within the text chapters (TC) and "personal" Action Plan (AP) as follows:

• Caring - TC: 1, 3, 4, 9-11, 14; AP: Mental, Social, Home & Family, Ethics & Belief
  
  
• Civic virtue and Citizenship - TC: 1-4, 7, 9-14; AP: Mental, Home & Family, Ethics & Beliefs
  
  
• Justice and Fairness - TC: 1-4, 6, 7, 9-11, 13, 14; AP: Mental, Ethics & Beliefs
  
  
• Respect - TC: 1-4, 7, 9, 10, 11-14; AP: Mental, Social, Physical, Home & Family, Ethics & Beliefs
  
  
• Responsibility - TC: 1-14; AP: Mental, Social, Physical, Home & Family, Ethics & Beliefs
  
  
• Trustworthiness - TC: 1-14; AP: Mental, Social, Physical, Home & Family, Ethics & Beliefs

Rising Stars is an innovative and unique inside-out development process that focuses on three critical elements that promote personal leadership, healthy behaviors and the skills employers identify as essential. These elements are:

• developing positive attitudes
• developing interpersonal skills
• developing goal-achievement skills

The development process typically begins by developing positive attitudes among the participants, both about themselves and others, and about the infinite possibilities that exist for them. Attitudes will directly determine in many cases whether a young person...

• turns a problem into an opportunity or succumbs to it
• will behave in healthy ways that ensure a successful present & future
• will benefit from the educational process

Interpersonal skills when combined with increased knowledge and goal-directed behavior enhance the probability that each young person will assess the impact of their present behavior on their existing and future success.

The process has been field tested in an urban comprehensive high school, a middle school, a non-public special education program, a church youth club and a community based program for adjudicated youth. Through trial and error, since spring of 1996, invaluable information has been gained on how to structure a Youth Leadership Program and know what essential components are needed to make it a measurable success. (The foundation of this youth leadership process is a successful 27 year adult proven leadership process that has positively impacted hundreds of thousands of individuals both internationally and throughout the USA.)

These necessary components include:

• Relevancy (taken from the need analysis)
• Action Planning (goals based on measurable objectives)
• Reinforcement (the Action Plan, the facilitation, and the alumni who share their experiences and help overcome obstacles)
• Repetition (consistent with positive reinforcement from the facilitation to the text and audio).

The Rising Stars Process contains all of these components along with the innovative learning strategies of self-directed learning, where young people take responsibility for their own personal improvement; and constructivism, where facilitation recognizes how to shorten the learning curve, and collaborative/team learning activities that support educational research.

Developing personal leadership is a critical component to bringing today's youth into society and the workforce as healthy, productive contributors. Rising Stars' proven process instills these behaviors along with an additional return on investment through prevention and reduction of risk behavior.