The RootsandGoals.org Pk3-12 Homework Project
Students who constantly update their life goals, at least annually, while also exploring family roots from written stories from parents and grandparents, improve their lives,
and their student achievement.
- The RootsandGoals.org Homework Project begins with one of three handouts each student is given copies of for each adult they are going to ask to write them a letter. (Before 3rd grade one handout is used. It changes in the third grade through the first letter their senior year in high school. Then a final handout focusing all goals 10-years into the future is used for the final letter senior year. 10-year reunions will never be the same. These 10-year old envelopes are filled with copies of priceless letters from central adults in their lives. They are returned. See the Handout Section on the Rootsandgoals.org website.)
- Each student gives a copy of this form to each adult they are asking to write them a letter. The form describes the project and the letter writing process.
- Two envelopes are also given each student. Parents, and after thrid grade the students themselves, date and place their own name and address under the date in the same location an address is placed on an envelope. Putting the date and student’s name and addresses on each of the two envelopes can be done in class to verify it is correctly done.
- All original letters received are read as soon as possible by the letter writer to the student. After third grade it is read immediately by students themselves. A meeting or phone call scheduled with the letter writer to go over the letter together. After this meeting the original letter goes into the one of the two envelopes designated as the envelope for original letters.
- Once the expected letters are all received, and the meetings with the letter writers have happened, each student writes a letter to themselves (except for those below 3rd grade) about their thoughts on each letter received and their own plans for their own future. This letter also goes into the original letter envelope.
- The original letter envelope with the original letters is then taken to have two copies made of each letter. This can be done at no cost at your local Dallas Public Library.
- One copy of each letter goes to each letter writer. It helps the planning for writing next year’s letter.
- The remaining copy goes into the second self-addressed and dated envelope. It is left unsealed and brought to school. The teacher counts the number of letters copied in the envelope, writes that number under the student’s address on the envelope, circles the number, and seals the envelope. The envelope is then returned to the student
- The student takes their sealed Roots & Goals Envelope to the classroom where they say the Pledge each morning. Their envelope is placed inside the Roots & Goals Envelope Box. It is returned to them at the end of the school year when all letters are returned to students except for the final Senior Letter which stays in the school vault until the class 10-year reunion..
- Each day at the Pledge each student will see the Roots & Envelope Box with their envelope inside. Hopefully it will remind them of the advice in the letters inside their envelope. If they ever forget what was said in any letter, they can always see and read the original letter that is in safe keeping in their home.
- At the end of every school year each Roots & Goals Envelope is returned to their student to take home and to use in planning next year’s letter.
- Much more rapid academic improvement was documented as all grades wrote letters to themselves planning their futures and received those letters back within the year. The only letters now placed into a school’s 10-year time-capsule vault are those of high school seniors about to graduate, with the letters returned at the Class 10-year Reunion. To better describe the old StudentMotivation.org Project it was renamed to be the RootsandGoals.org Pk3-12 Homework Project.
Academic improvement has now accelerated ten-fold since 2005! The improvements that took 10-years before 2016 now happen within one, or two years at the most, due to annual letters with students in all grades. The only 10-year time-capsule experience is now happening after high school graduation! The History section in the Menu reflects Project History in more detail.
The RootsandGoals.org Homework Project has always been a free-to-use, open-source project, improving student achievement. Our only request is much more important that money. If any school develops any improvements to this student motivation system, please let the RootsandGoals.org Project know so all students in all schools everywhere can benefit.
Graduate education or human behavior students are encouraged to use this project for any of the multitude of thesis items that could be researched within the RootsandGoals.org Homework Project framework involving students from the age of 3 through 18.
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Remember to place the current date above the students name on their Roots & Goals Envelope each year. It is possible today’s Pk-3 student will have 16 such envelopes, all with different dates, by the time they count the final 10-year planning forward Roots & Goals Envelope that goes into their high school vault for 10 years! They receive it back at their class 10-year reunion, but each former student must have an ID to get their Roots & Goals Envelope back.
Imagine the grasp on life, goals, and family history these graduating students will have compared to current students! Imagine the potential student achievement!
(The above photo is one of the five 10-year Reunions of Quintanilla former 8th grade students from 2005-2009. The reunions happened from 2015 through 2019, just before the Covid Pandemic shut down all letter writing in all schools in 2020. When letter writing stopped the high SEI scores dropped back to where they had been before students has started writing letters. The lack of a focus on the future makes a big difference! These reunions were great events everyone loved, but hardly a third of the former students returned to the reunions. Starting a 10-year reunion tradition for 8th graders is very difficult. Therefore it is no longer recommended due to the heavy effort demanded to put one on, the low attendence, and the apparent increased benefit of students getting their letters back sooner and not waiting 10 years.)
Benefits of the RootsandGoals.org Homework Project:
Schools experience a lowering of dropout rates with rising grades and achievement with this Project. Fewer behavioral issues hinder such progress. Student self-confidence grows. With students in all grades receiving annual letters from each parent, grandparent, or other close relative, average student attendance and achievement will improve in every grade!
High schools save the final envelopes from each senior class to be stored for the class 10-year reunions. A centrally located vault in a high traffic area of each high school should be used for this vault. Such a vault, combined with a Roots & Goals Envelope Box near every homeroom flag, symbolize the ultimate high value of family roots and life goals! We all benefit as more of our students both master their Family Roots and focus their studies on their own, constantly updated, Life Goals.
It is recommended that only high schools now have Time-Capsule Vaults to hold each graduates Roots & Goals Envelope for 10 years until their 10-year Class Reunion.
The record setting improvement reflected in the green area above was possible due to the excellent SOC staff under the brilliant leadereship of Dr. Willie Johnson since 2017. The green area designates South Oak Cliff High School (SOC) using parts of the RootsandGoals.org Project 2023 through 2025 to build on this essential foundation already in place at SOC! In 2023/24 SOC was the first DISD high school to have all students in all grades write letters to themselves about their plans for their future. The 9.5 SEI point one year gain in 2024 was beaten again by SOC the following year when about half the students requested letters from each parent, grandparent, or other relative. The 2025 SEI score rose even more than in the 2024 score and was 63.8, the highest 2025 SEI score among all DISD secondary schools, including 37 high schools, even the magnets and choice schools!
In two school years, 2024 & 2025, SOC raised their SEI score a total of 19.3 SEI Points! This is a phenomenal 2-year record unmatched by any DISD school over the past 30 years of SEI score gains. To better understand the School Effectiveness Indices, and explore the 30+ year history of SEI scores by DISD school, go to https://mydata.dallasisd.org/SL/SD/SEI/Default.jsp. Again, this progress was only possible due to the solid SOC foundation already in place in 2023!
Hopefully, early in 2026, before May 2026, many more schools at all levels will start their own RootsandGoals.org Pk3-12 Homework Projects. Their 2026 SEI scores will rise hopefully all over 5 points. Then the next year they may experience SEI gains as great as those SOC earned in 2024, and again in 2025 of over 9 points!
Schools must be patient with students and/or family members who are initially hesitant to write the requested letters. As the value of the Project becomes better known, voluntary participation increases. The RootsandGoals.org Pk3-12 Homework Project must remain voluntary. Counseling staff should always be advised when letters are being written. Alternative writing projects should always be available for students who do not want to participate.
Go to the RootsandGoals.org Homework Project Menu to see an Overview of the Project and it’s History, the Handouts needed to run the Project, and the Data that helps verify the Project achievements.
4-3-2026 Bill Betzen
bbetzen@aol.com
(Emailed questions are welcome. Always put Roots & Goals in Subject line)