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.

Most of us probably know that school gardens are a great teaching tool that can be used to enrich curriculum and improve physical health, but we believe in gardens as a way to grow character.  We see this everyday in our garden.

We see children sharing, working hard, and being kind. We watch kids grow responsibility as well as vegetables. We see kids engaged, excited, motivated, and proud of their school.  We watch as kids make connections between their school, their community, and the planet.

New research published by the Royal Horticulture Society (and who knows gardening better!) shows that as well as helping children lead happier, healthier lives, gardening “helps them acquire the essential skills they need to fulfill their potential in a rapidly-changing world and make a positive contribution to society as a whole.”

In fact, evidence suggests that gardening can play such a vital role that we believe every child should be given the chance to experience the benefits. So we will be sharing what we’ve learned along the way- how to start and maintain a school garden, how gardens create opportunities to embed character education principles, and what kids, teachers, and families have to say about gardening at the 18th National Forum on Character Education.

Our presentation “Where Gardens Grow Character”  on Friday, Oct. 21 at 2:15 will include opportunities to share your school garden stories and you’ll walk away with: a list of gardening resources we’ve found helpful; a bibliography of garden research; and a hand made memento from our beloved garden.

Please join us!  Because gardening in schools is a necessity.

Posted by Susi Jones, Tricia Elisara, Nancy Younce, Julian Elementary School, a 2010 National School of Character

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.

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.

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.

Students come to us in all shapes and sizes. They come in all abilities as well. It is an ongoing task charged to educators to find ways to challenge students at all levels of ability. Teachers at Orrs Elementary School work together to provide meaningful learning experiences at all level of mastery.

Lessons based on choice menus by interest or learning style is one way to challenge students. Another way to challenge students is to provide differentiated lessons to meet the needs of all learners. Teacher-led small groups in reading or math can provide challenging opportunities with teacher direction.

Character education focusing on self-discipline and self-motivation can lead to students working alone or collaboratively on ways in which to challenge themselves and thus taking ownership of their own learning.

Finding ways to challenge all students remains a top priority at Orrs Elementary. A series of character lessons have been applied this year across grade levels. Teachers collaborated on differentiated lessons with a character theme that includes skills across content areas.

Students have been empowered by choice during these lessons to incorporate expressions of understanding of both the content/skill base and the concepts of good character targeted by the lessons. Displays of student work emphasizing these positive character traits have lined the hall at Orrs throughout the school year.

Students are able to recognize many of the values learned in the work of their grade level peers and in students younger or older than they are. This series of lessons has given students a voice both individually and collaboratively about character issues.

High-stakes testing is a reality in schools these days. Testing success, however, is not the only goal at Orrs Elementary School. Teachers have consistently executed lessons that seek mastery over mere performance. Real world applications are stressed across grade levels.

Teachers work as teams to create lessons that will challenge students at all ages and levels and provide an understanding of the practical application of skills at the earliest age. Questions that are constantly asked of students include “how can I use this in real life?” And “what are the practical applications of this skill?”

Having such questions present at all phases of planning and implementation insures that students focus on the heart of the matter of education. For students and faculty at Orrs, that heart of the matter is the mastery of standards so that students are prepared for grades to come and eventually life.

The students at Julian Elementary School, a have been focusing on showcasing their Service Learning Projects each year on Global Youth Service Day.  This has made the projects more meaningful to them, with guidance and instruction for high quality service learning.

Established in 1988, Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world, and the only day of service dedicated to children and youth.  GYSD is celebrated each year in over 100 countries.

Focusing on Service Learning, my 2nd and 3rd grade combination class has formed a partnership with a 4th and 5th grade combination class to learn about age-appropriate leadership skills.  Working with a student teacher, we came up with an idea to form a partnership with our local Historical Society and Museum.

Essential in this partnership is the collaboration between the students and the community, and sharing common goals relative to community needs.  Furthermore, observing the students sharing ideas and showing mutual respect to their peers, amidst diversity of the group, has been rewarding.

The students have begun with the “investigation” aspect of their plan.  This has led to the discovery of a community problem that needs to be addressed and involves research and mapping activities.  The goal is to embark on a Global Youth Service Day Project that will be completed by Earth Day on April 22, 2011. 

Through this project, the students will learn about the history of our town, empower other children in our school to understand the historical significance of our community, and to create a pamphlet for the children and families of the school, the community members, and visitors of Julian.  Included in the plan is to refurbish and decorate the Historical Society bulletin board on the side of the town hall.

The “planning and preparation” of the project involves the teachers, students, and community members to outline the learning and service activities to make the project successful.  Youth voice is a very important component in this process to insure ownership for the students.

The “action” is the heart of the project and helps to engage students in a meaningful way.  As they began implementation of the project, they will, hopefully, gain experiences to help them develop skills, attitudes and knowledge that will ultimately benefit the entire community. 

Part of this action involves weekly class meetings, researching books and internet on the history of Julian, creating an informational pamphlet for distribution to town visitors, inviting guest speakers to the school, and providing guided walking field trips into town to the Julian Museum, the Julian Cemetery, the Town Hall and the Julian Historical Society. 

In addition, the students will be working together to create a time line, photographs and informational display on the Julian Historical Society’s bulletin board for the enjoyment of any local resident or visitor to Julian.  As their progress is monitored, we will discover if our specific goals were met.

When the project is completed, it will be critical for the students to “reflect” on their accomplishments.  It is essential for them to think about what they learned through the process of their project and to relate what it means to them through discussions, illustrations or writings.  Evaluating their experiences should give more meaning to their efforts, a greater connection to their community, and an excellent way for them to demonstrate understanding. 

Finally, the students can “celebrate” their accomplishments by sharing their knowledge through photographs and newspaper articles, and thinking about how this will affect the community in the future.   Assessment of the project through additional discussions and reflections of what worked and what could have been done differently will provide feedback and improve instruction, to further measure their learning and development.

Sullivan Primary School (pre-K through first grade) weaves character into every facet of their day. At such an early age, students are given many opportunities to apply values in everyday discussions and play.

One project that started as a small building service project grew to a district-wide project that now includes every campus in the school district, community businesses, citizens, parents, children, and school staff. The “Bowls for Hunger “soup supper night brings all stakeholders together for an exciting night with donations of goods and services as well as building relationships.

Students serve soup donated by local restaurants and businesses in ceramic bowls the students make in art class. Bread is distributed to those in attendance by student leadership groups from all campuses. Students perform songs of thanks during dinner and then present “gifts of giving” to the organization of choice. Donations raised at the “Bowls for Hunger” event are targeted for whichever cause the whole district student body voted on.

What started as a simple evening has truly been a success. It was “true” service learning that was embedded into the curriculum. Subjects such as math, reading/literature, social studies, and art were incorporated. Students were read the books Stone Soup and The Rag Coat. During class meetings students discussed what it means to be hungry and have wants and needs.

Students brainstormed ways they could help others. They associated the rag coat to a rag quilt, and each student decided to bring a piece of their own clothing to create classroom quilts to give to a homeless shelter. Parent volunteers assembled and sewed the quilts together working hand in hand with the students. Once finished, students gathered at a class meeting, covering with the quilt to experience the warmth, and reflected on their donated piece that now represented a collaborated quilt for a cause.

Students wrote reflections and added illustrations to be bound in a booklet to accompany the quilts for pleasure reading. To symbolically tie our community as one, each visitor received a strand of fabric as they entered the soup supper night and were asked to tie their fabric to the “Community Character Caring Quilt.” The quilt is on display in our Performing Arts Center as a constant reminder to all that together we can make a difference.

Now each year Sullivan has a service learning focus theme. In the past we have had “I Can Help,” “We Give Back,” “We Can Help Make a Difference,” and “Proud to Serve.”

We believe at the Sullivan Primary School that Parents + School + Community can only = Success.

Building a caring learning community goes beyond the four walls of a classroom.  At Lake Carolina Elementary, the faculty and staff have been deliberate in their approach to developing a caring community since the school opened in 2002.  We have worked to foster authentic relationships among students, faculty, families, and other members of our surrounding neighborhoods. We acknowledge that each of these stakeholders is an essential part.

As a team of educators, we realize that in order to build a strong school community, it is imperative to invest in each other as colleagues.  Teachers participate in professional workshops and outside-of-school activities to cultivate genuine relationships with each other and develop the faculty into a cohesive team. What we learn as professionals is then transferred into individual classroom communities by incorporating strategies such as daily morning meetings and end of day closure gatherings that give students the opportunity to connect with one another.

Students are encouraged to personally use and highlight others’ use of the school’s core values throughout the day. The core values are incorporated into academic lessons and deliberately used in classroom conversations. Students frequently work together in small groups or pairs. We know that learning is a social activity and this collaboration is essential in developing a caring learning community.

At other times, multiple classes are able to collaborate together. The school’s reading buddies program is a cross-age mentoring program that allows upper grade levels to work together with younger students.  Another way classes collaborate among each other is when they all work together as a team to keep the school’s Peace Flag flying.  On days when the flag flies, it serves as a tangible symbol of Lake Carolina’s caring community. On the other hand, when major discipline infractions occur the Peace Flag cannot fly. Administrators, teachers, and parents use the event as a learning experience to help students discover what better choices were available and which of the school’s core values should have been used to avoid the Flag not flying.

A caring school community not only involves teachers and students, but also parents and community members. Teachers at Lake Carolina view themselves as active, invested members of the greater school community. They attend students’ extracurricular activities such as sporting events and dance recitals in the community.  They also partner with parents to organize community events such as a family heritage night that embraces our school’s cultural diversity, family game nights, and service learning projects.  Community members also participate in these events and frequently serve as volunteers during the school day, mentoring and reading with students.

The faculty and staff’s efforts to build a strong school community result in students feeling comfortable enough to openly share with adults at school their concerns about academic struggles, conflicts with peers, or difficulties at home. In many ways, the greatest attribute of a School of Character is its caring community.

Bullying in our nation’s schools is rampant.

Consider the following data points from the 2010 Federal Bullying Prevention Summit: every day, 160,000 students stay home out of fear of getting bullied at school; 1 in 3 students will be bullied this year (about 18M young people); 75-80% of all students observe bullying; and, depending on definition, 15-35% of students are victims of cyber-bullying.

Fortunately, our elected officials and others are now taking bold action. To their credit, for example, 43 states have passed anti-bullying legislation. 

I had the honor of representing CEP at the Summit. The key takeaways were: (1) bullying in schools is widespread; (2) the ramifications are very serious; (3) we need to learn more through research; (4) several government agencies are truly committed to taking this issue on; (5) policies and definitions need attention and clarity; (6) there are 67 programs that claim to combat bullying; (7) none of them has been shown to be effective through research; and (8) there is no simple, silver bullet solution.

As with all complex and chronic problems in our schools, narrowly focused intervention strategies typically fail to make a lasting impact. Zero tolerance policies, hallway posters and such all sound very good in theory. There is no doubt that they are also implemented by well-meaning people who really do want to make things better. However, according to many experts, such measures are shallow in nature and thus fail to achieve their intended purpose, especially over the long haul.

So, having said all of this, if educators are serious about mitigating and eradicating bullying in schools, they will need to take a broad and strategic approach–one that focuses on the school’s entire culture. Beyond having a good strategic plan to guide the entire process, success requires committed leadership, hard work, collaboration with all stakeholders, tenacity and lots of patience. Remember, cultural change takes time, so think “crock pot,” not “microwave oven.”

As for the strategic plan, CEP can help. We offer an excellent resource for this very purpose–one that goes to the heart of school culture. It is free of charge online. I am referring to the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education. One school leader referred to them as a “GPS system” to guide one along the path of meaningful change. To learn more, or to download a copy, please go to http://www.character.org/elevenprinciples 

Following the 11 Principles will help curb violence at your school and drive other positive changes. We know this to be true from managing the National Schools of Character program for 13 years. It has given us a rich and extensive database of case studies that consistently show how violence and other problems decline as culture improves. At the same time, other important metrics also move in the right direction—including academic achievement. A safe, caring, supportive school culture doesn’t just solve problems. It also creates an environment where young people flourish in countless positive ways.

To make the point, let’s look at three schools that followed the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education and took a broad and strategic approach to creating healthy cultures. Each one drastically reduced violence and other problems. Beyond that, they also showed remarkable improvement in a host of other important areas.

Seckman High School in Imperial, MO, stresses team work, empathy and service. The assistant principal said the emphasis goes far deeper than “banners hanging from the cafeteria ceiling.” Over a 5-year period, out-of-school suspensions decreased 98%; in-school suspensions decreased 30%; fights decreased 65%; and drug-related incidents decreased 74%. Seckman was also named a Top 10 Performing School for Science; their graduation rate rose to 94%; and ACT scores hit an all-time high.

Waterloo Middle School in NY was once riddled with disciplinary and academic problems. A veteran staff member said it was “the black sheep of the district.” That is not true today. One teacher said the school “created a strong sense of family and built a culture of caring.” They emphasize respect and acceptance. Students pledge each day not to use their hands or words to hurt themselves or others. Over two years, serious offenses decreased 71% and other reportable offenses decreased 50%. Also, passing scores on the NY math assessment increased 49% and attendance climbed to 97%.

Julian Elementary School is located near San Diego. Their motto is “We can change the world with our own two hands.” Their culture includes service and respect. In a survey, 100% of parents said the school created a positive climate for learning. Last year, they achieved the highest Academic Performance Index rating in school history. Of note, it went up 45 points for socioeconomically disadvantaged students and 74 points for those with learning disabilities. As for problems, disciplinary actions for violence and bullying decreased by 71%.

The three schools showcased above are all different, yet they have several things in common. First, each one follows the 11 Principles of Effective Character Education. Second, they all created healthy, supportive, respectful cultures. Third, each school significantly mitigated major problems. And fourth, they all showed improvements in academics and other key areas.

The CEP database includes many other real-world case studies that show similarly striking results. But let’s look at a final school that is not in our database. Dunbar Senior High is in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1870 and has a long and rich history. However, like many other urban schools, it faces major challenges. Three years ago, the principal was fired and a private consulting firm took over. Even after the radical change in leadership, things failed to improve.

In December, the Washington Post reported on a Dunbar teacher who resigned because she was disgusted by the response to a cyberbullying incident. It was one of many cases of harassment and violence she claimed were tolerated or overlooked. The teacher said the consultants created “a culture of neglect, insecurity, zero accountability and poor communication.” She added “the culture, one of tolerance for sexual violence, was one she could no longer be part of.”

U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, talked about culture at the Summit. He said bullying goes to the very heart of school performance and culture. The Secretary views safety as a moral issue and said schools “should be cultivating a culture of trust and accountability.” CEP agrees with Secretary Duncan. We actually view culture as a two-way street. A good one solves problems and makes things better; a bad one exacerbates problems and makes things worse.

In conclusion, bullying is a daunting and frightening problem. If you want to take the issue on at your school and truly make a difference, you will have to take a strategic approach–one that focuses on the disease (unhealthy culture), not just the symptom.