A Comprehensive Approach to Effective Character Education

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A Comprehensive Approach to Effective Character
Education

• Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.
• S. N. McDonnell Professor of Character Education
• University of Missouri-St. Louis

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Contact Information

• Address Marillac Hall 402
• College of Education
• University of Missouri-St. Louis
• One University Blvd.
• St. Louis MO 63121-4499
• Phone [phone]
• FAX [phone]
• Webpage www.characterandcitizenship.org
• Facebook www.facebook.com/UMSLCCC
• Email berkowitz_at_umsl.edu

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What is character?
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Head Heart HandsGood character consists of
understanding, caring about, and acting upon core
ethical values

• Character Education Partnership
• (www.character.org)

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The complex constellation of psychological
characteristics that motivate and enable
individuals to function as competent moral agents

• Marvin W. Berkowitz

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What is character education?
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Dispelling MythsThis is not your mothers
character education!
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Myth 1 Not the role of schools

• It is everyones role and is unavoidable
• All adults involved with children either help or
  thwart childrens growth and development, whether
  we like it, intend it or not.
• Aristotle

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Myth 2 Competes with the true purpose of
schools

• It is only in the past half century that
  Americas schools have become monomaniacal about
  purpose

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• Sputnik, the separation of church and state, and
  NCLB
• Even the founding fathers emphasized the need for
  schools to produce virtuous citizens

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Myth 3 Cant afford to do academics and
character ed

• It is not a zero sum game
• Many educators find that the best path to
  academic achievement is creating caring
  classrooms and schools
• Research suggests that high quality character
  education results in higher academic achievement

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Character education is

• A way of being, and most notably a way of being
  with others.

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For most educators

• It is a NEW way of being.

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Character education IS rocket science

• Effective character education requires
  understanding character development and the
  complex comprehensive approach to character
  education

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Eleven Principles (CEP)

• Core ethical values are the basis of character
• Character is thinking, feeling and behavior
• Intentional, proactive, comprehensive promotion
  of core values in all phases of school life
• School must be a caring community
• Students need opportunities for moral action
• Includes a meaningful and challenging curriculum
• Strives to develop students intrinsic motivation
• School staff must be a learning community
  adhere to core values
• Requires moral leadership from staff students
• Must recruit parents community as partners
• Must evaluate character of school and students

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Schools are perfectly designed for the results
we are getting. If we dont like the results, we
need to redesign schools.

• Paul Houston
• Executive Director,
• American Association of School Administrators

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PRIME Character Education

• Prioritizing character education
• Relationships
• Intrinsic motivation
• Modeling
• Empowerment

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Prioritizing Character Education

• There are two primary purposes of education
  academic and character
• Schools often overlook character and focus
  primarily or exclusively on character
• Character has to be an explicit centerpoint of
  the schools mission and of the school leaders
  philosophy

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To consistently build excellence for students,
families, and for the community, a school must
have an intentional culture based on shared
values, beliefs and behaviors

• Charles Elbot and Dave Fulton
• Building an Intentional School Culture

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Never will wisdom preside in the halls of
legislation until Common Schoolsshall create a
more farseeing intelligence and a pure morality
than has ever existed among the communities of
men.

• Horace Mann

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Ive come to the frightening conclusion that I
am the decisive element in the classroom. My
personal approach creates the climate. My daily
mood makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess
a tremendous power to make a childs life
miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture
or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate
or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is
my response that decides whether a crisis will be
escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized
or dehumanized.

• Haim Ginott

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To educate a person in mind and not in morals is
to educate a menace to societyPresident
Theodore Roosevelt
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Staff Buy-In

• Relationships
• Brentwood Middle School
• Authentic collaboration
• You have to feed the teachers.
• Invest in them e.g. p.d.
• The Four Ws
• Waiting you out
• Work with the willing
• Win over the doubters
• Winnow out the un-redeemables

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Examples of Prioritizing

• Central to school mission statement
• Character related touchstone
• School leader is the champion of the initiative
• Integrated across all school elements

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Resources for Prioritizing

• Elbot, C.F., Fulton, D. (2008). Building an
  intentional school culture Excellence in
  academics and character. Thousand Oaks, CA
  Corwin Press.
• Lickona, T., Davidson, M. (2005). Smart and
  good high schools Integrating excellence and
  ethics for success in school, work and beyond.
  Washington D.C. Character Education Partnership.
• Characterplus (2005). The Characterplus Way
  Plan Implement Refine. St. Louis Characterplus.

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Relationships

• The 3 Rs of character education are
  Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
• Need to consider ways to doing the same work that
  also build positive relationships
• Relationships should be targeted within and
  between all stakeholder groups

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Whats done to children, they will do to society

• Karl A. Menninger

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Dear TeacherI am a survivor of a concentration
camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness
Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children
poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed
by trained nurses. Women and babies shot and
burned by high school and college graduates. So,
I am suspicious of education.My request is
Help your students become human. Your efforts
must never produce learned monsters, skilled
psychopaths, educated Eichmans. Reading, writing,
arithmetic are important only if they serve to
make our children more humane.

• Sadker Sadker, 1977

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A Source of Moral Character

• UNRELATED SIGNIFICANT ADULTS
• Invulnerable children invariably have an adult
  outside the family who takes an enduring
  benevolent interest in the child

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Golden Child and Tarnished Child
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Adult culture of the school

• Adults in the school must function as
• a caring professional learning community
• They must walk the talk and talk the walk
• The must treat each other as they
• want students to behavewith
• character!

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Examples of Relationships

• Cross-age initiatives
• Cooperative learning
• Service that builds sustained relationships
• Professional Learning Communities
• Authentic partnerships
• Looping

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Resources for Relationships

• Urban, H. (2009). Lessons from the classroom 20
  thing good teachers do. Redwood City, CA Great
  Lessons Press.
• Watson, M. (2003). Learning to trust
  Transforming Difficult Elementary Classrooms
  Through Developmental Discipline. San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass.
• Denton, P., Kriete, R. (2000). The first six
  weeks fo school. Greenfield, MA Northeast
  Foundation for Children.

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Intrinsic Motivation

• Educators often rush to using extrinsic
  motivation to promote character
• The true goal of character education is for
  students to internalize moral values
• Different pedagogical strategies are needed to
  foster intrinsic motivation

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Basic Needs of Students

• Deci and Ryan (Self-Determination Theory)
• Autonomy (sense of empowerment)
• Belonging (social connectedness)
• Competence (ability to achieve/succeed)
• Eccles
• Mattering (make a meaningful difference)
• Responsibility (contributing group member)
• Engagement (challenge and enjoyment)
• Identity (knowing ones place in a social context)

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Examples of Intrinsic Motivation

• Developmental discipline
• Community service
• Studying role models
• Guided reflection on character

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Resources for Intrinsic Motivation

• Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards The
  trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, As,
  praise and other bribes. Boston Houghton
  Mifflin.
• Dalton, J., Watson, M. (1997). Among friends
  Classrooms where caring and learning prevail.
  Oakland CA Developmental Studies Center.
• Streight, D. (2013). Breaking into the heart of
  character Self-determined moral action and
  academic motivation. Portland OR Center for
  Spiritual and Ethical Education.

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Modeling

• Cannot demand from students what you will not do
  yourself
• Lickona The single most powerful tool you have
  for influencing a childs character is your
  character
• Students learn more from what you do than from
  what you say
• Ghandi You must be the change you want to see
  in the world.

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Examples of Modeling

• Peer tutoring
• Multi-stakeholder working groups
• Teacher (and other staff) behavior
• School leader behavior (re staff)
• Open staff discussion of staff behavior

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Resources for Modeling

• Lickona, T., Davidson, M. (2005). Smart and
  good high schools Integrating excellence and
  ethics for success in school, work and beyond.
  Washington D.C. Character Education Partnership.

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Empowerment

• Character develops in part through
• as sense of ones autonomy
• Character education should focus on
• the empowerment of all stakeholders
• teachers, administrators, support staff,
• students, parents, community members,
• etc.
• A philosophy of empowerment should be
• at the heart of the school

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• The first service that one owes to others in
  community consists in listening to them.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together

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Empowerment

• Character develops in part through as sense of
  ones autonomy
• Character education should focus on the
  empowerment of all stakeholders teachers,
  administrators, support staff, students, parents,
  community members, etc.
• A philosophy of empowerment should be at the
  heart of the school

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Examples of Empowerment

• Democratic student government
• Class meetings
• Peer mediation
• Student guided curricula (e.g., project based
  learning)
• Student run honor system
• Student advisory committee
• Culture of staff collaborative decision-making

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Resources for Empowerment

• Power, F.C., Higgins, A., Kohlberg, L. (1989).
  Lawrence Kohlberg's approach to moral education.
  New York Columbia University Press.
• Developmental Studies Center. Ways we want our
  class to be Class meetings that build commitment
  to kindness and learning. Oakland CA
  Developmental Studies Center.

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Evidence-Based Strategies

• The implementation strategies
• selected should be theoretically
• justified.
• They should also be chosen because
• research has demonstrated their
• effectiveness.

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Best Practices What works?

• Berkowitz, M.W. Bier, M.C. (2005). What works
  in character education. Washington D.C.
  Character Education Partnership.
• Download from either www.characterandcitizenship.
  org or
• www.character.org

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Effective Programs

• Peacebuilders
• Peaceful Schools
• Peacemakers
• Positive Action
• Positive Youth Development
• Project Essential
• Raising Healthy Children
• Resolving Conflict Creatively
• RIPP
• Roots of Empathy
• SDM/PS
• Seattle Social Development
• Second Step
• Social Competence
• Teaching Students/Peacemakers
• Teen Outreach Program

• Across Ages
• All Stars
• Building Decision Skills
• Child Development Project
• Facing History Ourselves
• Great Body Shop
• I Can Problem Solve
• Just Community Schools
• Learning for Life
• Life-skills Training
• LIFT
• Lions-Quest
• Michigan Model
• Moral Dilemma Discussion
• Open Circle
• PATHE
• PATHS

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Most commonly found outcomes

• Socio-moral cognition (77 out of 106)
• Pro-social behaviors and attitudes (71/167)
• Problem-solving skills (57/86)
• Violence/aggression (46/100)
• Drug use (45/97)
• Emotional competency (32/50)
• Risk attitudes (31/70)
• School behavior (28/69)
• Academic achievement (21/33)
• Attachment to school (20/33)

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Research supported methods

• Peer interactive strategies
• Service to others
• Developmental discipline
• Role-modeling and mentoring
• Nurturance
• Trust and trustworthiness
• High expectations
• School wide focus

• Family/community involvement
• Pedagogy of empowerment
• Teaching about character
• Teaching social-emotional competencies
• Induction
• Professional development

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When in doubt

• Go back to your bases
• Prioritize character education
• Relationships are the building blocks
• Intrinsic motivation must be nurtured
• Model good character
• Empower all stakeholders