Our Challenge

Understanding themselves and their values, and using their knowledge and skills to explore the world.

We know that for Girl Scouts to become even more successful and powerful in the years ahead, we must deliver an updated and consistent experience that engages all girls, encouraging them to discover their best selves and use leadership skills to take action and make a difference in their world. Therefore, we need to:

• Reach new and growing demographic markets

• Tie enjoyable activities and experiences to our desired impact on girls' lives (our outcomes)

• Incorporate community and global service, action, and global citizenship

• Combine up-to-date language, mediums and practices with Girl Scouts' longstanding traditions

Promise and Law

The Girl Scout Promise and Law remain at the heart of the Girl Scout experience, and their values are fully integrated into the Girl Scout Leadership Experience.

What Leadership Means

Girl Scouts of the USA has a unique philosophy of leadership that is based on “making the world a better place.”

Through Girl Scouting, girls become leaders by:

• Discovering

• Connecting
  Caring about, inspiring and teaming with others locally and globally.

• Taking Action
  Acting to make the world a better place.

The leadership experience will be clearly differentiated for girls in elementary, middle, and high school in a way that gives girls something new to aspire toward as they grow older.

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Pathways for Participation

Girls and their families are busier than ever these days, so our goal is to provide both long-term and short-term avenues of participation at all grade levels.

Transition Planning, 2007-2010

The Girl Scout community is hard at work addressing our Core Business Strategy’s call for a major transformation centered on building the world's best leadership experience that ties activities to outcomes, provides differentiation for girls from kindergarten through high school, and offers flexible pathways for today's diverse and busy girls and volunteers.

With input from girls, the Girl Scout community, and youth development experts, a team of national and council staff spent 2005 determining key elements and outcomes for the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience. This model was finalized in 2006 and then slated, by the National Board of Directors, for first-stage implementation in fall 2008.

GSCSNJ will begin to phase in the Girl Scout Leadership Experience in the Fall of 2008.

The Multi-year Transition Period

The transition has been set up as a multiyear process so that councils can balance national action plans with local needs, making choices as needed to reach the Movement’s goal of providing girls with a unified Girl Scout experience by fall 2010.

GSUSA is providing guidance on managing membership and program over the next several years with specific attention to:

• New Membership Grade Levels

• Changes to Registration Forms

• New Program Resources and Awards

• Existing Resources and Awards

• Girl Scout Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards

• National Outcome Strategies

• Preparing Adults for Change

• Girl Scout Pathways

• Uniforms

The concluding Challenges and Suggestions list offers solutions for specific challenges related to transitioning to the new grade levels and managing a variety of membership needs, including multigrade and multilevel troops, home schooled girls and individually registered girls. As the fall 2008 launch of the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience nears, GSUSA will continue to host a series of national conference calls and Webinars. Some are to disseminate information on work completed; others are to solicit input on work under way.

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The Model, Pathways, and Journeys
Understanding the New Lingo on the Road to Leadership

The Leadership Model

The leadership model provides the design for what girls do in Girl Scouting. It illustrates how adult support strengthens girls’ experiences and drives and displays all the elements that must be in place to create a positive impact on girls’ lives.

Girl Scout Pathways

A pathway is the way girls and volunteers join Girl Scouting. They can choose from several pathways, including an ongoing troop, destinations, a short-term opportunity, a day or resident camp, a special-interest topic or event, or a virtual (online) connection.

Leadership Journeys

Journeys represent the experiences Girl Scouts engage in to achieve leadership outcomes. For each Girl Scout grade level, GSUSA is creating a series of leadership journeys accompanied by new resources and new awards.

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The New Membership Grade Levels

Girls say it is important to be with other girls their age and, currently, they get bored by too much repetition. As one 13-year-old Girl Scout wrote, “It makes us more comfortable to be with the same age group as ourselves.” Girls identify with social groups based on grades. Research also found that girls learn best and have the most fun when they are with the right

developmental/social grouping.

The new grade levels, approved by the National Board, address the charge of intentionally creating differentiated Girl Scout experiences that mirror girls’ developmental needs:

• Girl Scout Daisy, Grades K-1

• Girl Scout Brownie, Grades 2-3

• Girl Scout Junior, Grades 4-5

• Girl Scout Cadette, Grades 6-8

• Girl Scout Senior, Grades 9-10

• Girl Scout Ambassador, Grades 11-12

The grade-level groups provide "leadership levels" for girls as they progressively "step forward" through the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience.

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Leadership Journeys: The New Direction for Program Resources and Awards

A series of leadership journeys, accompanied by new resources and new awards, is being created for each Girl Scout grade level. Each journey engages girls in exploring a theme through a series of linked experiences that, together, form a whole greater than any one journey activity. Each journey is tied to national “Discover, Connect
and Take Action” leadership outcomes. The journey concept grew out of an approach many councils already use informally as they weave activities and events around existing Girl Scout resources and awards to better suit their members’ needs and interests. The concept also builds on the rich tradition of linked Girl Scouting efforts like "program trails." While engaged in the new Girl Scout journeys, girls and volunteers are encouraged to add on outings, celebrations, in-depth explorations or anything else that meets their interests, time, and resources.

Registration Form Changes

Currently, the dues summary registration form asks for “one grade level that
represents the majority of the girls that are registering now” and displays the current
grade levels. These categories will be changed to reflect the new levels. Changes will
be made for all forms distributed winter/spring 2008. Since the girl registration form only asks what grade a girl is in school, that question will remain.

Toward National Outcomes

Building on the charge to tie activities to outcomes within the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience, GSUSA will this fall release a new publication, Transforming Leadership: Outcomes of the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience. This document will detail the meaning of each outcome by grade level within the Discover, Connect,
Take Action framework. Transforming Leadership will help focus efforts around those outcomes (e.g., program activity selection, fund development, communications) and pave the way for future outcomes measurement.

Through fall 2007 and spring 2008, the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) will pilot measures of the New Girl Scout Leadership Experience outcomes and program processes (girl-led, cooperative learning, and learning by doing). A national pilot baseline study will be conducted in spring 2008 with 6-10 councils. The results will provide a baseline for future comparisons and outcomes measurements, and will be ready in time for the 2008 National Council Session. The GSRI is working with councils on the Outcomes Advisory Group to develop a five-year plan for an integrated local/national outcomes measurement system. Closely aligned with this work, the GSRI will release a research review, Exploring Girls’ Leadership (fall 2007), and an original study on girls’ leadership (spring 2008) that further illuminate what leadership means for girls, which factors encourage them to aspire to leadership, and how Girl Scouting can make a difference.

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Girl Scout Pathways

GSUSA envisions councils using the new leadership journeys to fuel girl and volunteer participation in a variety of consistent long- and short-term Girl Scout Pathways. For example, a journey can be spread over a series of troop gatherings, provide the basis for a week of day or resident camp, or be the primary content of a virtual pathway.

The Girl Scout community is helping shape pathway standards to provide nationally consistent approaches to membership. This summer GSUSA hosted nine conversations with 215 staff from 147 councils in 42 states to talk about Girl Scout Pathways. Councils shared their own innovative approaches for reaching girls and adults that could easily fit into a national pathways framework. The information gathered in these conversations will help develop national criteria for Girl Scout Pathways.

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Symbols of Belonging: Uniforms and Awards

Girl Scout uniforms and awards unite Girl Scouts around the world as a sisterhood ofleaders. In the tradition of updating these important symbols of belonging periodically, the National Board of Directors approved a new policy, provided below, for implementation, beginning in fall 2008.

Based on this policy, girls at each level will have one official uniform item (e.g. tunic, vest, sash) so that they can proudly display the pins and badges they earn. Girls will wear their vests and sashes with their own white shirts and khaki pants, making it easier for more girls than ever before to show their pride as Girl Scouts!

Uniform Policy Adopted by National Board of Directors, August 2006

Required Elements:

• Girl Scouts at each level will have one official uniform item (e.g., tunic, vest, sash) for the display of official pins and awards. This uniform item will be required when girls participate in ceremonies or officially represent the Girl Scout Movement.
• The official dress code will unite girls as Girl Scouts. Girl Scout Juniors and older
  program age groups will wear solid white shirts and khaki pants or skirts with their official uniform item, which will be required when they participate in ceremonies or officially represent the Girl Scout Movement. Brownies and Daisies may still wear full uniform ensembles.
• The adult uniforms will be a scarf worn with the membership pins for women and a tie for men. The scarf/tie and membership pins will be worn with navy blue business attire.

Available elements:

• Girl Scouts at the Daisy and Brownie levels will continue to have a full uniform
  ensemble available.
• Girl Scouts in high school will also have a scarf, uniting them in the WAGGGS
  tradition.
• Girl Scouts of the USA will continue to develop and offer a range of appealing casual wear for girls and adults.

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FAQ's on the Leadership Experience

Why is Girl Scouts focusing on leadership?
Girl Scouts has always been about leadership, so this is not a new focus but a more deliberate one. Even at the youngest ages of Girl Scouting, girls can gain leadership skills they will carry with them throughout their lives. The Girl Scout focus on leadership shows girls that they are leaders right now in their everyday lives, and they will continue to be leaders as they get older. We believe that when women are leaders in our world, positive results are achieved—and our world needs more positive results.

How is leadership taught to girls?
In the new Girl Scout Leadership experience, activities are organized around three pillars —discover, connect, and take action—which translate into knowing yourself, reaching out to others, and taking action to contribute to society in sustainable ways, making a difference in the world.  This means that in every Girl Scout program delivered to girls of each age group, there will be a Discover, Connect and Take Action component. These three pillars and the focus on leadership development will start to build a consistent experience for girls across the country.

What Is a "leadership journey" and how will it change program materials and awards?
Girl Scout Leadership journeys are coordinated, thematic series of activities grouped around one theme that is delivered over a set period of time with the intention of being a complete leadership experience module.  Each journey is tied to some of Girl Scouts' 15 national outcomes for girls, as defined in the Girl Scout Leadership Model. These outcomes are integral to the "Discover-Connect-Take Action" philosophy of leadership. For the launch of the leadership experience in fall 2008, GSUSA is creating one leadership journey for each level, accompanied by awards and facilitator guides. These initial journeys invite girls to explore a specific leadership theme for their level. Subsequent journeys will layer on more multi-disciplinary content, like science and technology, healthy living, and the outdoors, adding to the variety.

When will we get new program materials for these leadership journeys?
New program materials will be phased in gradually, and with lots of input. Each grade level will have one “launch” journey for fall 2008, and councils will have a preview of all materials by April 2008.

What about current program resources and awards?
Keep using them. It will take several years to create sufficient new program materials for each age level, and there are many great examples of our Discover-Connect-Take Action leadership philosophy at work in the existing materials.

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