CORE VIRTUES
  • Home
  • Our Approach
    • Program Overview
    • Why Stories?
    • Implementation
    • The Morning Gathering
    • Suggested Book Lists >
      • Year One Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Two Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Three Suggested Booklists
      • PDF Book Lists
    • Digging Deeper
    • Telling our Stories >
      • Blog Archives >
        • 2018 Blog Archives
        • 2019 Blog Archives
        • 2020 Blog Archives
        • 2021 Blog Archives
        • 2022 Blog Archives
        • 2023 Blog Archives
  • About Us
    • A Little History
    • Mission
    • Board and Staff >
      • Mary Beth Klee
    • Core Virtues Schools
    • Our First Champion >
      • The Portsmouth Declaration
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
  • Virtue of the Month
    • Virtue Cycle Definitions
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
  • Cycle of Virtues
    • Year 1
    • Year 2
    • Year 3
  • Heroes-Lives to Learn From
    • September Heroes
    • October Heroes
    • November Heroes
    • December Heroes
    • January Heroes
    • February Heroes
    • March Heroes
    • April Heroes
    • May Heroes
    • June Heroes
  • Holidays
    • Labor Day
    • Veteran's / Memorial Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Martin Luther King Jr
    • President's Day
    • Black History Month
    • Saint Patrick's Day
    • Women's History Month
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Ramadan
    • Immigrant Heritage Month
  • Poetry
  • Core Knowledge Connections
    • Kindergarten
    • First Grade
    • Second Grade
    • Third Grade
    • Fourth Grade
    • Fifth Grade
    • Sixth Grade
  • Links
  • Anthologies
  • Chapter Books
  • Parent Teacher Bibliography
  • Schools of Faith
    • Saint of the Month >
      • January Saints
      • February Saints
      • March Saints
    • Jewish Schools
    • Christian Schools
    • Islamic Schools
    • Eastern Faith Traditions
  • Grade Level Goals
    • Kindergarten Goals
    • First Grade Goals
    • Second Grade Goals
    • Third Grade Goals
    • Fourth Grade Goals
    • Fifth Grade Goals
    • Sixth Grade Goals
  • Store
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Our Approach
    • Program Overview
    • Why Stories?
    • Implementation
    • The Morning Gathering
    • Suggested Book Lists >
      • Year One Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Two Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Three Suggested Booklists
      • PDF Book Lists
    • Digging Deeper
    • Telling our Stories >
      • Blog Archives >
        • 2018 Blog Archives
        • 2019 Blog Archives
        • 2020 Blog Archives
        • 2021 Blog Archives
        • 2022 Blog Archives
        • 2023 Blog Archives
  • About Us
    • A Little History
    • Mission
    • Board and Staff >
      • Mary Beth Klee
    • Core Virtues Schools
    • Our First Champion >
      • The Portsmouth Declaration
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
  • Virtue of the Month
    • Virtue Cycle Definitions
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
  • Cycle of Virtues
    • Year 1
    • Year 2
    • Year 3
  • Heroes-Lives to Learn From
    • September Heroes
    • October Heroes
    • November Heroes
    • December Heroes
    • January Heroes
    • February Heroes
    • March Heroes
    • April Heroes
    • May Heroes
    • June Heroes
  • Holidays
    • Labor Day
    • Veteran's / Memorial Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Martin Luther King Jr
    • President's Day
    • Black History Month
    • Saint Patrick's Day
    • Women's History Month
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Ramadan
    • Immigrant Heritage Month
  • Poetry
  • Core Knowledge Connections
    • Kindergarten
    • First Grade
    • Second Grade
    • Third Grade
    • Fourth Grade
    • Fifth Grade
    • Sixth Grade
  • Links
  • Anthologies
  • Chapter Books
  • Parent Teacher Bibliography
  • Schools of Faith
    • Saint of the Month >
      • January Saints
      • February Saints
      • March Saints
    • Jewish Schools
    • Christian Schools
    • Islamic Schools
    • Eastern Faith Traditions
  • Grade Level Goals
    • Kindergarten Goals
    • First Grade Goals
    • Second Grade Goals
    • Third Grade Goals
    • Fourth Grade Goals
    • Fifth Grade Goals
    • Sixth Grade Goals
  • Store
  • Privacy Policy

 Mary Beth Klee  

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Klee holds her Ed.M. from Boston University and a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Brandeis University.  In 1991, after completing her doctorate and teaching history on the college level, Mary Beth founded Crossroads Academy, an independent K-8 day school in New Hampshire with twin goals of academic and moral excellence.  In the early '90s, she worked with Crossroads faculty to develop a virtues-based character education program.  Dr. Klee authored and Crossroads faculty piloted the literature-based Core Virtues program. Core Virtues is in its thirtieth year of use, and twenty-seventh year of publication.  Dr. Klee has conducted numerous professional development workshops  on its use throughout the United States, as well as Chile and Kenya.  

Convinced that our striving for human excellence must be grounded in the nature of the human experience, Mary Beth has also worked on the development of Kindergarten to twelfth grade history programs.  With exceptional colleagues at K12, Inc., she co-edited three middle school world history textbooks: The Human Odyssey, Prehistory Through the Middle Ages (Vol 1),The Human Odyssey, Our Modern World 1400-1914 (Vol 2),The Human Odyssey, From Modern Times to Our Contemporary Era (Vol 3) and one U.S. history text with distinguished historian Morton Keller: The American Odyssey A History of the United States. (2009) 
Mary Beth's most recent book, Leonore's Suite (2020) is historical fiction inspired by true events.  It is a coming-of-age story of an American teen girl interned by the Japanese in World War II. 

Mary Beth Klee and her husband Javier Valenzuela founded the Core Virtues Foundation in 2017, and Dr. Klee acted as its President until July 2022, when ownership of the program was transferred to the University of Dallas.  Mary Beth continues to serve as the program's Director.   She splits her time between Naples, Florida and Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where she delights in nearness to her four grandchildren.
Picture
The Human Odyssey,
​From Modern Times to Our
​Contemporary Era(Vol 3)
Picture
The American Odyssey,
A History of the United States

Books written or edited
​by Mary Beth Klee:

Picture
Core Virtues
Picture
Leonore's Suite
Picture
The Human Odyssey,
​Prehistory Through the Middle Ages (Vol 1)

Picture
The Human Odyssey,
Our Modern World 
1400-1914(Vol 2)

Home

About us

Resources

Contact

NEWSLETTER

Core Virtues Foundation Copyright © 2018