The Journey to Excellence is now retired.
Why are we changing our approach?
- Strong, active units ensure a great Scouting experience for youth and volunteers.
- Commissioners should help units by listening to the needs of unit leaders and serving as the single, best resource.
- Changing how we engage with unit leaders should result in stronger partnerships between unit leaders and commissioners.
- The current system of scoring and assessing was not consistent and did not help unit leaders.
Unit Metrics
- We are changing from subjective scoring to objective metrics which are readily available from Scouting America information systems.
- Unit Leaders and Committee Chairs are encouraged to ensure that activities, service projects, camping, hiking, and especially long term camping are recorded.
- If your unit uses information systems other than Scoutbook, please contact the District Executive for more information.
- Metrics can help your Unit Commissioners determine which units might need help, what areas might need focus, and which commissioners might be the best fit to help them.
- Metrics are NOT intended to tell unit leaders what they are doing wrong or point out where they don’t succeed.
- Instead the Metrics are designed to give Unit Leaders a quick insight into the state of their units.
- Objective unit metrics include Key Leaders Trained, Unit Size, Membership Growth, Advancement/Youth Leaders, Outdoor Activities, and Youth Retention.
Metric Categories
Key Leaders Trained
The importance of this unit metric lies in ensuring that every youth receives the highest quality of leadership. Trained leaders not only enhance the Scouting experience for youth but also play a pivotal role in retaining families within the program. By investing in training, we elevate the overall satisfaction and engagement of both participants and families, thereby fostering a stronger and more vibrant Scouting community.
Exceed Small Unit Treshold
A unit’s size can affect the likelihood of attracting new members and retaining existing youth participants, while also facilitating the recruitment of additional adult volunteers. A unit whose size is in the historical “comfort” zone fosters a more vibrant and safe program environment, offering enhanced opportunities for engagement and safety.
Year Over Year Membership Growth
A consistent membership growth is a sign of a vibrant recruitment and retention strategy. This ensure new members to keep the unit strong, and is a reflection of a good unit program.
Advancements / Youth Leadership
Advancement is an important method of Scouting, showcasing a Scout’s growth and accomplishments. A unit with a strong advancement record is more likely to attract, recruit, and keep Scouts and their families engaged. Packs, Troops, and Ships focus on individual advancement. The focus for Crews and Posts is on the youth leaders being elected by their peers and on being fully trained for their position. In both cases this reflects a strong unit program where individual growth is encouraged.
Outdoor / Super Activity
The essence of Scouting lies in its promise of outdoor adventure to young people upon joining. Youth crave outdoor programs that captivate their imaginations and passions. Moreover, these outdoor activities play a vital role in involving, attracting, and retaining families within the Scouting community.
For Packs these are any outdoor activities.
For Troops this is usually Summer Camp but may be another long-term camp.
For older Scout programs this is one of the many “Super Activities”
- Planning Sea Scout Super Activities
- Venture Crew Tiers of Adventure
- Exploring Guidebook for Leaders (Search for “superactivities”)
Important Note:
- The Golden Gate Area Council board has decided that all youth facing volunteers are required to be fully trained in their positions. In the future this is expected to be mandatory.
Tools
Please keep in mind that these tools are still being finalized, so not all information is being correctly collected and displayed at this time.
Unit Dashboard
The My.Scouting Unit Dashboard option in the Organizational Manager has new fields
- The actual tie into Scoutbook, Internet Advancement, and Scoutbook Plus is still being developed.
Not all information is currently accurate. - Unit Summary section: Provides an overview of the Unit Metrics derived from data submitted through Scoutbook, Learning Center and other sources
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This indicates a metric meeting the desired levels |
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This indicates a metric that does not meet the desired levels. |
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This will open the Unit Metric rubric which describes the desired levels |
- Program section: Will display data on Membership, including Growth and Size.
- Membership
- Click the Age Distribution to reveal information if, as by default, it is not shown.
- The official unit roster information is displayed in My.Scouting, not in Scoutbook or Scoutbook Plus.
- Advancement, including Leadership and Super-Activates (i.e. Long-term camping)
- At this time the Advancement is only reflecting Eagles.
- However, the metrics can be seen from the Advancement Report if you click on that and select the last years’ worth of Advancement for your unit.
- Currently it seems that Leadership metric are derived only from the Star, Life, and Eagle advancement. Not sure if this will change in the future to reflect all leadership positions entered for Scouts in Scoutbook or Scoutbook Plus.
- Outdoor or Super Activities can be entered via the Unit Data Metric Entry.
- This is still under development.
- At this time just put in the starting date for the activity. There is currently no way to edit or delete submission.
- Campouts, Hikes, and Service Projects.
- This is best entered via Scoutbook Plus as the Scoutbook Quick Entry for Activity Logs now redirects to https://advancements.scouting.org/activities
- which is part of Scoutbook Plus.
Select your unit and then click the icon to navigate to the Activity Log page where you can enter a new activity (Camping, Hiking, or Service Projects), and record those individuals who participated.
You can also assign individuals later if needed.
- Membership
- You can also run reports which can be downloaded as CSV or PDF documents.
Unit Data Metric Entry
My.Scouting Unit Data Metric Entry option in the Organizational Manager currently only has one limited option.
- This can be used to add a long-term camping event. Simply enter the date.
Unit Metric Rubric
| Unit Metric | Cub Scouts Pack | Scouts BSA Troops | Sea Scouts Ships | Venturing Crews | Explorer Posts |
| Key Leaders Trained | Cubmaster + Committee Chair position trained GGAC: All youth facing volunteers position trained. | Scoutmaster + Committee Chair position trained. GGAC: All youth facing volunteers position trained. | Skipper + Committee Chair position trained GGAC: All youth facing volunteers position trained. | Advisor + Committee Chair position trained GGAC: All youth facing volunteers position trained. | Advisor + Committee Chair position trained GGAC: All youth facing volunteers position trained. |
| Exceed Small Unit Treshold | 20 or more Cubs in pack | 12 or more Scouts in troop | 7 or more Sea Scouts in ship | 7 or more Venturers in crew | 7 or more Explorers in post |
| Year Over Year Membership Growth | Positive YOY membership growth or pack has 50+ Cubs | Positive YOY membership growth or troop has 30+ Scouts | Positive YOY membership growth or ship has 15+ Sea Scouts | Positive YOY membership growth or crew has 15+ Venturers | Positive YOY membership growth or post has 30+ Explorers |
| Advancements / Youth Leadership | At least 30% Cubs have rank advancements in prior 12 months | At least 30% Scouts have rank advancements in prior 12 months | At least 20% of Sea Scouts have rank advancement in prior 12 months. | Crew led by youth officers elected by their peers and trained | Post led by youth officers elected by their peers and trained |
| Outdoor / Super Activity | Pack participated in outdoor activities in prior 12 months | Troop participated in long-term camp in prior 12 months | Ship participated in Super Activity in prior 12 months | Crew participated in Tier III Activity in prior 12 months | Post participated in Super Activity in prior 12 months |