By Kristie Fink, CEP Education Advisory Council member

The Common Core has now been adopted by all but five states in the U.S., making it the topic of discussion in faculty rooms all across the country. It touts high standards that encapsulate the knowledge and skills students need for college, career and civic readiness in a 21st century global society, but will it really deliver on its promise?

There is much to like about the new Core. Governors and state superintendents all across the country collaborated to create it, reflecting our national ideals of state and local control of education. This collaboration has also resulted in developing high standards rooted in performance that meet our national goals of preparing every young person to be college-, career- and civically ready by high school graduation. The standards also draw heavily from best practices and research on what high-performing countries do.

The new standards could elegantly inform our journey a decade into this new century with a vision of what it means to be educated and prepared for the challenges of a new global society. The new Core proposes to make rigorous academic content accessible to all students so that all students can be successful. They represent a paradigm shift in that they move teachers away from an emphasis on preparing students for low level, multiple-choice tests to more real-world, performance-based assessments. The level of rigor has been increased, with daily reading and writing across the curriculum in a wide range of texts, including literary and informational, and increasing text complexity across disciplines.

So what’s missing that might help students grapple successfully with the increased rigor and expectation of performance in this new Core? While it lays out what students need to know and be able to do in a 21st century global society, it falls short on identifying what students need to “be like,” (term coined by Ivor Pritchard, senior researcher at the U.S. Department of Education) or the dispositions and qualities of character they will need to develop to be well-prepared for what it means to be educated in today’s world and beyond, and to be successful on high stakes performance tests. Some of these key learning, inquiry and literacy skills include collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, communicating, building arguments, creativity, planning, presenting and researching. Clearly character is implicitly built into the new standards, but is not explicitly named or identified as key to successful implementation of the standards. However, character is the important foundation and common denominator that will help students effectively cope with all of these greater demands.

The new Core makes it clear that it does not attempt to identify all that should or could be taught, or specify the supports that schools must continue to put in place to help all young people be successful. And these are standards—they don’t identify the curriculum or teaching and learning strategies that teachers will use. An important dimension of optimal school planning that will help both students and teachers transition effectively with the new standards includes a focus on the following:

•Explicit planning for the core civic and ethical values that young people will need to acquire to be college, career and civic ready, and to grapple with the greater performance demands of the Common Core

•Modeling core values and teaching a curriculum grounded in values so that young people have clearer visions of the kinds of people they might become

•Intentional planning and working towards a pervasive sense of community for every student and the caring relationships that foster optimal human development across all domains—intellectual, social/emotional and ethical

•Collaboration to create a school and classroom culture rooted in respect, responsibility and excellence, so that students not only develop moral character, (caring, respect, trustworthiness, for example) but the performance character they will need to successfully grapple with more rigorous standards, (diligence, effort, responsibility, for example)

•High quality teaching and learning with appropriate scaffolding and supports to help all young people be successful

•Collaboration among teachers, with support from administrators, to understand and plan for implementation of the Common Core

The Common Core lays out a clear vision of what it means to be educated in the twenty-first century. It will require educators to look deeply within themselves, reflect on what students most need to be prepared for a very different world than has existed in the past, and to move forward skillfully, courageously and gracefully so that every student can succeed, contribute and create happy and flourishing lives for themselves.

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Monday, February 28^th brought us news of another school shooting—this time in Chardon, OH. The entire country has been rocked by this violent act that killed three students and injured two others. This is news that we hope to never hear again.

I must admit that I was not shocked when I heard about the shooting. I had just turned 10 years old when the Columbine shooting occurred, so I’ve grown up with school shootings in the news. When I was in elementary school in Minnetonka, MN, a 5^th grader brought a knife to school. Bomb scares happened every so often during middle school and high school, and gun scares were not unheard of on my college campus in Princeton, NJ. While some of us might deny that a school shooting could ever happen in our community, it seems all too possible to me.

Having graduated college back in June, I’m a relatively new employee here at CEP. Joining CEP has pushed me to think about issues such as school violence in new ways. I have realized that violence is something that schools can both prepare for—just as Chardon High School did by creating a response plan to deal with violence when it occurs—and prevent. Can we work toward a new future where shootings and other acts of violence are rarities in school settings? I think so.

We have all heard that instances of school shootings, teen suicides, and other violent acts have been connected to bullying and lack of acceptance at school. Given this, the shooting on Monday highlights the importance of creating safe and caring school communities. Comprehensive character education efforts can build an atmosphere where students feel included, connected, and part of their school community; where both students and teachers step up to report bullying and stand up for victims; where teachers check in with vulnerable or troubled students instead of hoping, “she’s fine” or “he’s too much trouble”; and where parents are involved and engaged. This may seem like just a dream to many, but it is achievable—just ask many of our National Schools of Character!

There are, of course, countless reasons why acts of violence take place in schools. Still, recent events in Chardon remind us that schools—together with parents and their communities—can work to minimize these occurrences. Let’s work together to make each student feel safe, valued, and strong enough to do the right thing.

Question: How does your school work to create a safe and caring school community? Please let us know by posting a comment below!

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Katie Hood, Web Content Coordinator for CEP

Being a relatively new CEP staff member (I started in Sept.), I’m still learning a lot about character education. I know the basics now – start small, get leadership on board, engage your out-of-school community – but I am still amazed when I hear the National Schools of Character stories. True learning happens in these schools because students want to learn, teachers want to teach, and parents and community members support them.

I recently listened to a radio show that discusses issues in American education. This day’s particular show focused on character education, and featured CEP’s National Schools of Character director Lara Maupin, and Crestwood Elementary School (MO) principal Scott Taylor.

The most striking thing I realized while listening to the show was that the most common issues in education: bullying, poor academic performance, pressure for students to reach test scores rather than truly learn just aren’t issues at NSOCs.

Scott talked about how his school earned the “Nobel Prize of Education,” according to his superintendent. His school was the only school in 2011 to be distinguished as a Blue Ribbon School and also a National School of Character. He said in the show, “It’s a tremendous honor –really the highest honor you can achieve in education – and certainly we would not have accomplished that without the character program that we have in place.”

That struck a chord with me because the correlation is really becoming clear about how character education relates to students doing better and being better. They said that teachers have more time to teach when they use character education as the foundation of their pedagogy. Students hold themselves and each other accountable to the virtues and values that they establish as important in their school. These values are typically respect, responsibility, honesty, doing your best – standards that most agree are positive. That way, teachers can spend their time teaching instead of disciplining students’ bad behavior.

It is important, they say, for the school community (students, parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders) to all discuss and reach consensus about the values taught. There is no one-size-fits-all character education program that works for everyone, but there are principles that can help guide all schools in providing quality character education. And these principles work for all types of schools – urban, rural, suburban, rich, poor, middle-income, minority, homogeneous, you name it.

Character education is not an add-on. It’s the foundation. And “when parents, staff, and students come together – great things happen,” says Principal Taylor. The proof is in the 170 NSOCs. Lara says, “In all of our NSOCs, we’ve seen the metrics go in the right direction, for both academic and discipline and behavior.”

Listening to this show really helped me understand how effective, comprehensive character education can be a part of the reform so obviously needed in American schools.

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Joe Paterno, head football coach of the Nittany Lions for 45 years, lost his job after failing to report child sex abuse to legal authorities. He did alert proper university authorities.

As you have probably heard by now, Penn State’s illustrious football program is in shambles following allegations that several boys were molested by Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coordinator, in a Penn State facility as part of a program hosted by the school.

The school officials’ decision not to report the assault to the police is disappointing, shocking, and unfathomable for many.

The events are not only an embarrassment to the school, but raise serious issues about the school’s quality of ethics in its leaders. The university fired legendary coach Joe Paterno and several other high-ranking officials since they failed to report the abuse to authorities.

A letter from Penn State University president Rodney Erickson stated his commitment to reinforce the moral imperative of doing the right thing, to lead by example, to be transparent during investigations, to respect the victims and their families, and to provide resources to help prevent future attacks.

Sadly, however, this is not the first time Penn State (and other colleges and universities nationally) has turned a blind eye to sexual offenses. It’s common practice, according to a 2010 report by the Center for Public Integrity.

46 forcible sex offenses were reported at Penn State from 2008-2010 as part of the Clery Act, yet only two were deemed actual offenses by Pennsylvania State Police. No arrests were made.

So the questions are:

How do we ensure that our leaders lead with integrity? That power is held through doing what is morally and ethically correct? That our children are raised in a world of upstanders instead of bystanders and abusers?

How are you starting the conversation in your classrooms or homes? Does one bad act make someone a bad person? How is character fostered, and how can it be shattered? What’s more important: reputation or character?

What can character educators and leaders do to better stress doing what is morally and ethically right, rather than just doing what is legal?

Matthew Davidson, leading researcher and expert on excellence and ethics, posted an interesting and insightful reaction to this case. Read it here.

Share your thoughts here. We care what you have to say!

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The use of technology has been a growing force in education. Once, classrooms were relatively isolated, nestled into a school in a suburb, small town or city. Now, regardless of physical location, today’s students have access to the larger world through the Internet. However, the focus of education itself has not necessarily changed.

Educating has always been about preparing students to be successful citizens, in whatever way possible. Strong reading, writing and math skills continue to be important, as does character. Being able to get along with others, having self-control and patience, being honest and trustworthy: these have always been traits teachers have hoped to instill in their students, and that remains true today.

Strong character is essential in the use of technology used for classroom learning. The Internet itself is a wide source of knowledge, as well as being the gateway to further content. As students attending traditional and online schools alike begin to use the Internet more and more for research, they need to learn how to utilize this tool in an ethical manner. Thus, teachers should inform students how to find credible websites when working on research projects as well as how to properly cite their sources in order to avoid plagiarism. Teaching students how to use the Internet responsibly early on will not only help students academically but also teach them to respect the work of others.

Good character is also imperative when using the Internet in a more social way. As students interact on the web, they are becoming digital citizens. Just as they must learn to adapt to their role as members of their school community, they must learn that, when they participate online, they are creating an identity representing themselves, and possibly their school.

The use of social networking has the potential to create problems, as students use sites like Facebook to connect and communicate. As a result, issues such as gossip and bullying are no longer left behind when the school day ends, since student communication continues online. Bullying, in particular, has reached new levels with the advent of cyberbullying. Luckily, there are several things students, parents and teachers can do to prevent this. A website created to help promote positive interaction on the Internet gives some excellent tips.

While there are potential problems in the use of technology, it is an excellent instructional tool for developing good character. Social interactions within the school, in the classroom, in the cafeteria and on the playground have always provided excellent teaching opportunities. The Internet simply provides another venue. Teachers can teach proper behavior and take opportunities to get involved and correct when needed. Finally, teachers can model good behavior by considering what they say online, and being cognizant that nothing is private on the Internet.

With the increase in the use of technology, a focus on the basics of good character must be maintained. Being able to interact well with others has always been crucial, but perhaps even more so now, as students are conversing with people across the world, and of many different backgrounds and races. As the world gets smaller, being able to participate in that world in a positive way is more than important than ever.

This post was written by guest contributor Lindsey Wright, a freelance writer who is fascinated with the potential of emerging educational technologies, particularly the online school, to transform the landscape of learning. She writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile learning, and the possible future of education.

To learn more about educating students for digital citizenship, don’t miss the keynote panel at the upcoming National Forum on Character Education and the remarks of digital citizenship expert, Dr. Jason Ohler.

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Students set personal goals at the start of the year.

 A focus on the whole child and each child’s moral and social development pervades the program at Beauvoir the National Cathedral Elementary School, a 2011 National School of Character. The school invests a great deal of time and resources into the “social curriculum,” which is seen as being just as important as, and even part of, the academic curriculum.

All classes spend the first 6 weeks of the school year developing class norms according to the Responsive Classroom methodology. Part of this is the development of class constitutions, contracts, or promises.

Students also set specific personal goals called “hopes and dreams.” Both are posted and referred to regularly in each classroom. During daily morning meetings in each classroom, students greet each other, play a game together, share something of importance to one or more students, and read the morning message.

Even the youngest Beauvoir students start the year with learning the social curriculum in age-appropriate ways. When entering Pre-K, all students are given stuffed bears that they name, make clothes for, and then use for role playing throughout their first two years at Beauvoir. The bears are a tool to teach empathy teachers adapted from the book Bears, Bears, Everywhere by Luella Connelly.

Beauvoir is one of five cathedral schools located in the U.S. and one of three on the beautifully maintained grounds of the National Cathedral located in Washington, DC. Beauvoir is a private primary school, serving preschool aged children through third graders.

Beauvoir will be presenting at the 18th National Forum on Character Education in San Francisco, Oct. 19-22.

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As most teachers do, I always look at what I am doing and analyze the success of my work.  I want to make sure I am doing the best I can and if I am not, I want to figure out what can I do to improve my product.  The work ethic, drive, passion, effort, and academic achievement of my students are the means to my analysis.  The revision policy, as well as our goal system, has allowed many of my students to achieve success more aligned with their actual ability (and beyond in some cases).  This has been a true joy to personally witness.

 An area I have struggled with since my first year teaching, is motivating the kids that seem to not care.  Every year I have a group of kids who refuse to work for me, accept failure, and seem rather apathetic towards turning this vicious cycle around.  And every year I bust my tail trying to motivate these kids.  I contact their parents, I offer help, I give second and third chances, but by the second semester I am ready to give up.  Have you been here before?  Can you relate?  We don’t want to give up, but we feel as if we have given so much and received little effort in return.  It is frustrating.  We begin to worry about the other 110 kids in the classroom who ARE willing to work.  Have we now neglected them?

 I have tried everything!  Have you ever said that?  Did you ever think that?  For a moment, reflect and consider this thought:  This is the same feeling the parents of these kids probably feel, though my guess is much more desperately.  Maybe these kids feel the same way.  My guess is the kids feel as if they can’t do the work, regardless of their effort.  Failure is much easier to deal with when it is self-inflicted.  When you choose to fail, you have some control.  I can’t imagine the level of frustration the kids feel from trying their best and not seeing much success.  Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ~ Thomas Edison

 What can we do about this?  How can we stop the cycle?  I think I have stumbled upon a solution, though it does take some work and a lot of perseverance and patience.

 Up until this year, I have always made revisions an option.  I wanted the kids to make the personal choice to better their work.  I wanted this choice to have intrinsic value to the kids.  I have discovered that the kids who tend to be my higher level thinkers usually revise most of their work with little prompting from me.  The kids, who would most benefit from the revision policy, typically avoid revising their work.  I decided that I needed to intervene.

 What did I do?  I used an idea I heard from Matt Davidson this past October and applied it to my classes.  The idea I secured is called “F or D and You See Me”.  The premise of this idea is that I will no longer accept F’s and D’s from any of my students.  The kids no longer have the choice to revise assignments of this quality.

 F or D and You See Me:

  If you earn a D or an F on any assignment, you have five days to revise it at your pace.

 After the 5th day, you will be invited to join me for lunch to revise said assignment(s).

 You will be asked for the revision the following day; if you still don’t have it revised you will join me for lunch again.

 We continue this process until the assignment has been revised to a C or better quality.  The student still receives the grade change in the grade book (at this point).

 If the assignment was an incomplete, I will simply check it off in my grade book once it is revised to a C or better quality, though the grade will remain a zero.  The understanding of the material is the goal – not the actual grade.

 Once we come to the end of the chapter, revisions can no longer be submitted for grade changes.  Students that still have D or F papers must still revise their work though.  The only change is that I will enter a check in my grade book once the revision is to a C or better quality.

 This new process is a true testament of perseverance and endurance.  Many of my kids didn’t really think I would go through with this process.  I did.  I do.  I will.  I have made laminated passes for the kids to help reduce my time involvement in this process.  I hand out the passes before lunch each day.  If the said students have the revisions prior to lunch, they can turn them in to me and return the pass.  Is this a lot of work?  You bet it is!  Has it made a difference?  Absolutely!  The vast majority of my students figured out that I won’t quit.  My hope is that my students will learn how to “not quit”.  Most of my kids now revise the D and F papers prior to the 5th day.  I do still have a few that fight me on this, though my team and I are trying to come up with new strategies with them.  It is an ongoing effort!

**  Mark will be speaking at the 18th National Forum on Character Education to be held October 19-22 in San Francisco.  Register now at www.character.org and make sure you get to hear him!

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I was struck by Linda Darling Hammond’s statistics–we have 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of its prison inmates. She compared how little we spend per pupil for education to how much more we spend to house prisoners. I was moved by Jonathan Kozol’s comparison to his marching with Martin Luther King, and how sad it is that the inequalities in education are as bad as ever. And I agreed with everything Diane Ravitch had to say. It all sounded so common sensical. I just don’t understand why everone doesn’t get it. But clearly, they don’t. Hence, the march.

Most surprising was the closing speaker, Matt Damon.  His speech was quite moving.  He said, “ As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself — my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity — all come from how I was parented and taught….and none of these qualities …  … can be tested.”

That was one of the main themes of the day, how standardized testing is crowding out so many more important aspects of teaching. My favorite signs addressed this theme. I liked the one that said, “Teaching isn’t a job; it’s a treasure hunt.”  Finding the treasure in each student–nice image.

Another sign: “Do we want standardized students?” I don’t think so. We want scientists, artists, builders, writers, dreamers, the full array of human potential.

But my favorite was the one whose art captured so well what many were feeling.

When Matt Damon finished his speech, we began the march to the White House. Our timing was unfortunate, as most eyes were probably focused on Congress trying to find a way to resolve the debt ceiling crisis. But this only made the comparisons I heard even more poignant:  “AYP for Congress. Let them show 100% proficiency by 2014.”

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It’s worth taking a look at what these countries are doing to see if we can learn from them. If these countries don’t debate school choice, teacher accountability, or high-stakes testing, why do we? Will all of our interventions and measurements really make our students achieve more? Perhaps Merrow is right to point to our divergent state policies and lack of support or respect for teachers as weak areas of our educational system.

Even so, that leaves us with the question, “What do we focus on right now?” We at CEP propose one word to serve as the foundation of every effort: relationships. Schools should not be failing our kids. In fact, unless the buildings are falling apart, schools can’t fail them. It’s the breakdown in communication and interaction between teachers and students, between administrators and parents, between faculty and staff, between educators and the wider community. It’s been heartbreaking to see recent stories on teachers leaving the profession because of iron-fisted administration policies or facing daily threats with a lack of recourse.

Students, teachers, and parents at these schools all lose, because the environment doesn’t encourage the development of positive connections and relationships that would lead to an atmosphere of teamwork. Contrast that with the inspiring tales of how parents taking charge can become partners in a school’s improvement efforts. While we agree with Merrow that there are no “magic bullets,” there are many ways that fostering relationship-building can benefit a school.

One mom heard that the elementary school down the block from her new home was horrible and that she should search for another school to send her kids to. After visiting the school and seeing its dilapidated condition, she instead chose to take action. With support from the principal, she enrolled her kids and gathered together a coalition of parents who came together to help make changes the school could not afford or accomplish on its own—painting classrooms and changing the neighborhood perceptions of the school, allowing the teachers to focus their efforts on teaching.

Another mom also started taking action when she heard about the facility conditions at her son’s school. She hung a shower curtain on a bathroom stall when none of them had doors and then took larger action to build a partnership with other parents that enabled them to develop a compelling case that the school district’s board members could not ignore. Now she’s the president of a reinvigorated PTA that is helping to develop more effective parent-teacher partnerships at other local schools.

While parents can have a powerful impact on schools, teachers have the most direct impact on student learning. To be effective, teachers need to work in an environment where they feel comfortable suggesting ideas, collaborating with others, and working together with parents and the school administration to gather feedback and make changes. This is why the importance of school leadership cannot be overemphasized. A caring school community can be developed through effective school policies that encourage the development of connections among staff as well as with students and parents. One of this year’s National Schools of Character is accomplishing amazing things while still managing to leading the district in closing the achievement gap—or perhaps they have closed the achievement gap because of these relationships.

Uthoff Valley Elementary School is a public school in Fenton, MO, that has about 20% of its students on free or reduced lunch. While everyone in the school works hard on building relationships, just one example of these efforts comes through monthly early release days, where cross-grade buddy activities are planned by staff teams. Each month, 20 – 30 parent volunteers will come in to the school that day and help run these activities. This frees up the staff, who can therefore be engaged in full-day professional development and planning opportunities. Staff members take the time to recognize and appreciate each other for their actions as well, both publicly and privately, often for something the staff member may not realize he or she had done.

How can we build on these individual school efforts? Great things are happening on a smaller scale—now we need to find a way to bring these empowering stories into the limelight and build some powerful momentum in a larger undertaking.

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I was happy to see that McLean High School (where I taught before retiring from teaching and coming to work for CEP) was ranked 13^th on the list of schools in the Washington, DC area. It was the highest ranked school in Fairfax County Public School District, a fact that I’m sure made the folks on the McLean faculty proud—especially since they were also ranked high in the national list of the top 200 high schools.  I’m sure there is lots of celebrating going on in schools all over who consider themselves to be among the best high schools in America because they made the list.

But is that legitimate? I agree with Mathews on the need to offer challenging courses to anyone who wants to try. As a former Advanced Placement English teacher, I’ve seen kids who had never taken an advanced class before rise to the challenge in my class. Even if they didn’t pass the test, the introduction to the advanced curriculum and the struggle to learn pays dividends in college, which is what Mathews has found through his research. But being a good school requires so much more than that.

CEP recently released its own list of outstanding schools, the 2011 National Schools of Character. Here are 44 schools that are giving their best efforts to develop caring learning communities where students are engaged, motivated, and succeeding. Each and every one of these schools is a beacon of light showing what good things happen when schools move past the test and embrace all aspects of child development. But the process to evaluate these schools is based on much more than test scores and requires an in-depth analysis of each school’s individual culture, rather than a comparison against other schools. Each of these schools has documented its success in meeting the guidelines of CEP’s 11 Principles of Effective Character Education.

I’d like these schools to get even a fraction of the coverage Mathew’s Challenge Index gets, and I’d like to see more schools want to achieve school of character status rather than worry about a numbered ranking. It’s the overall focus on the student’s well being and not just test rankings that will make a difference.

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