Director's
Dialogue

by David B. Wangaard, Ed.D.

The growth in activity associated with modern character education has been dramatic in 1998. Initiatives in Connecticut and nationwide are advancing for the benefit of students, schools and communities. Over 1800 students/adults have participated in Character Education events this year with SEE. Dr. Thomas Lickona (The Center for the 4th & 5th Rs) has seen his summer conference in Cortland, NY enroll over 480 participants, and the PREP Character Education Conference in St. Louis registered 700+ participants this past July. While acknowledging the difficulty in tracking the depth or quality of character education programs nationwide, Dr. Lickona recently noted a trend where character educators are seeking standards for good practice. This is a positive sign for the movement. The following stories note additional positive activities associated with character education in Connecticut. They are shared to highlight good news and encourage replication in other communities.

Tyl Middle School in Montville, is integrating character education into their academic instruction and school’s resiliency program under the leadership of sixth-grade teacher, Steffie Hall. Resiliency and asset development initiatives come from the field of social work and share similar objectives with comprehensive character education. Ms. Hall has seen these overlapping goals and recruits kids and community to promote positive character through service-learning, peer mediation and after-school clubs.

Dr. Fran Harris, an elementary principal in East Hartford, invited teachers to collaboratively write lesson plans which integrate character themes into existing areas of academic instruction. A grant helped fund 20 hours of lesson-plan writing for 22 teachers (kindergarten through sixth grade). The lesson plans are available as a reference source for each of the district’s elementary schools.

The region 12 communities of Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury, recently hosted a "Selectman’s Summit" with a focus on character. Deb Weik, a teacher at Shepaug Valley School, helped organized the evening event and invited local political, youth agency, school, business and faith representatives to learn how positive character development could be advanced through community involvement. About fifty participants worked in small groups to outline ideas for future community efforts. The meeting concluded with volunteers signing a giant commitment card to promote positive character throughout the region.

All in all, the grass roots expansion of character education is showing good momentum. Dr. Lickona believes the movement will have "staying power as the oldest mission of education". SEE continues to support this vision through student, teacher and community education programs. We invite others to join us and put "ethics in action" to promote good character.