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Feature
Article
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Implementing Successful
Character Education
By
David
B. Wangaard
The new
millennium has provided U.S. citizens with a variety of
opportunities not available to many generations. Peace and economic
growth have opened a window of opportunity to reflect on our moral
condition. The general public has reflected its concern for
declining ethics and morality as the single most important issue
facing our country in a recent Gallup Poll1. Educators and business
leaders have also acknowledged their dissatisfaction with the
behaviors of high school graduates related to taking responsibility
and working cooperatively2. Is there a window of opportunity to
advance character and ethics education in our schools?
The
public's documented concern for society's declining ethics and
character is not sufficient to guarantee successful implementation
of character education. Implementing character education will require the active
support of school leadership. School leaders are understood to have
their own concerns regarding character education which include- the
residual 1960s-70s fear of teaching values in schools, and pressure
related to focusing everyone's time on academic content to improve
standardized test scores. Anecdotal evidence notes well implemented
character education programs have unified diverse communities around
shared values and also improved school environments for the mastery
of academic material34567.
Successful
implementation, however, requires more than just the efforts of
school administrators. Support committees are recognized as
invaluable in the start-up and maintenance of character education
initiatives. A committee or team can take many forms, and be under
the umbrella of a school site-management team or school improvement
team, however, it must be self-sustaining to maintain meaningful
progress. Successful committees leverage their outreach into the
school by including school staff members from a variety of
positions, age-appropriate youth, parents, and members of the
community.
Wise
strategic planning will help focus a character education team on a
few critical activities. A clearly written vision statement which
highlights shared community values and encourages regular
professional development can guide committee activities. A
well-written vision statement will also help team members select
character education program options for implementation. Classroom
meeting strategies, moral discipline policies and procedures,
democratic governance, cooperative learning, service learning and
integrating values into the curriculum are examples of program
concepts which advance comprehensive character education. Finally,
the committee should be responsible for the ongoing assessment of
all programs through a practical action-research design or with a
traditional control and experimental treatment study.
While the process of implementing character education
is not a mystery, one must recognize the need to attend to the
strategic details with the support of a team approach to ensure
success. Schools are
busy places where new initiatives easily succumb to the demands of
the urgent. Poorly defined character initiatives or poorly
implemented programs will easily lead to a loss of teacher and
public confidence in the school's mission to educate for character.
Visionary leaders are needed with the courage and energy to move
comprehensive character education forward with the support of a
school-based team. A window of opportunity is open now. The School
for Ethical Education encourages those committed to excellence in
character education to create a team and work together in their
local schools to put Ethics in Action!
-
Gallup Organization (September, 1999).
Gallup social and economic indicators. Princeton: Author.
-
Public agenda: Reality check 2000. (2000,
February 16). Education Week, pp.S1-S8.
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Vincent, P. F. (Ed.). (1996). Promising
practices in character education. Chapel Hill:, NC: Character
Development Group.
-
DeRoche, E. F. , & Williams, M. M.
(1998). Educating hearts and minds: A comprehensive character
education framework. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.
-
Lickona, T., (1991). Educating for
character. New York: Bantam Books.
-
Ryan, K. & Bohlin, K. E., (1999). Building character in
schools: Practical ways to bring moral instruction to life. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
-
Vincent, P. F., (1995). Developing
character in students. Chapel Hill, NC: New View Publications.
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