Course Description

Meet Your Instructor

Professor Rudolf Klimes, PhD, welcomes you to this online course.

Course Exam

Character Education

Study and explore the following resources:

E36.1  What Character Education Teaches

Character education teaches the habits of thought and deed that help people live and work together as families, friends, neighbors, communities and nations.

Character education is a learning process that enables students and adults in a school community to understand, care about and act on core ethical values such as respect, justice, civic virtue and citizenship, and responsibility for self and others. Upon such core values, we form the attitudes and actions that are the hallmark of safe, healthy and informed communities that serve as the foundation of our society.

What is the school’s role in character education?

Students spend much of their young lives in classrooms. This time in school is an opportunity to explain and reinforce the core values upon which character is formed.

In school, character education must be approached comprehensively to include the emotional, intellectual and moral qualities of a person or group. It must offer multiple opportunities for students to learn about, discuss and enact positive social behaviors. Student leadership and involvement are essential for character education to become a part of a student’s beliefs and actions.

To successfully implement character education, schools are encouraged to:

• Take a leadership role to bring the staff, parents and students together to identify and define the elements of character they want to emphasize;
• Provide training for staff on how to integrate character education into the life and culture of the school;
• Form a vital partnership with parents and the community so that students hear a consistent message about character traits essential for success in school and life; and
• Provide opportunities for school leaders, teachers, parents and community partners to model exemplary character traits and social behaviors.

State education agencies, through a collaborative community process, have chosen to incorporate character education into their school improvement plans and state standards. Some states have chosen to implement character education through official state policies such as the Michigan State Board of Education Policy on Quality Character Education. Many schools have chosen to incorporate character education into their plans for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities.

From state to state, the following are common threads in character education agendas:

• Involvement of the whole community in designing and implementing character education for its schools; and
• Commitment to making character education an integral part of the education process.

http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/character/brochure.html 

E36.2 Online Resources in Character Education

• Programs in Character Education
  • Curriculum materials for for social studies, earth science, and biology
• Introduction to Character Education
  • Teaching values in school
• Character Education Articles
  • Material on bullying, expulsion, academic integrity, etc.
• Character Education Cases
  • Scenarios for students on cheating, date rape, relationships with parents, etc.
• Recommended Reading Students
  • Value-Rich Reading for Young People
• Education Ethics Links
  • Annotated list of Internet resources

E36.3 More Character Education Resources

Character Education: Our Shared Responsibility
What character education is, the role of schools in character education, and resources for supporting it.

Character Education: Lessons Learned
Lessons learned from character education projects funded under the Partnerships in Character Education Pilot Project from 1995-2001 (May 2008).

Evaluating Character Education Interventions
“Mobilizing for Evidence-Based Character Education” suggests strategies for planning and implementing scientifically sound evaluations.

Helping Your Child Become a Responsible Citizen
Suggestions for helping children develop compassion, self-discipline, good judgement, respect, responsibility, and other qualities of good character.

What Works: Character Education
The What Works Clearinghouse reviewed programs with attention to student outcomes related to positive character development, pro-social behavior, and academic performance.

Conference on Character and Community
Presentations at the White House Conference on Character and Community. (June 2002)

Partnerships in Character Education Program
Learn about the ED program that supports character education.

Character Education Projects
Projects that received awards from the ED Partnerships in Character Education Program.

Character Education and Civic Engagement Assistance Center
The Character Education and Civic Engagement Technical Assistance Center provides information on character education and civic engagement.  Source:  http://www2.ed.gov/teachers/how/character/edpicks.jhtml

Explore and review the following sites:

• E36.4 Virginia Character Ed
• E36.5 California Character Ed
• E36.6 Character Education Links

Test 6896