A Comprehensive Approach to Effective Character

Education

Marvin W. Berkowitz, Ph.D.S. N. McDonnell Professor of Character

EducationUniversity of Missouri-St. Louis

Contact InformationAddress: Marillac Hall 402

College of EducationUniversity of Missouri-St. LouisOne University Blvd.St. Louis MO 63121-4499

Phone: 314-516-7521FAX: 314-516-7356Webpage:www.characterandcitizenship.orgFacebook: www.facebook.com/UMSLCCCEmail: berkowitz@umsl.edu

What is character?

Head Heart & Hands

“Good character consists of understanding, caring about, and acting upon

core ethical values”Character Education

Partnership(www.character.org)

The complex constellation of psychological

characteristics that motivate and enable

individuals to function as competent moral agents

Marvin W. Berkowitz

What is character education?

Dispelling Myths:This is not your mother’s

character education!

Myth #1: Not the role of schools

It is everyone’s role and is unavoidable:

“All adults involved with children either help or

thwart children’s growth and development,

whether we like it, intend it or not.”Aristotle

Myth #2: Competes with the “true purpose: of

schools• It is only in the past half century

that America’s schools have become monomaniacal about purpose

• Sputnik, the separation of church and state, and NCLB

• Even the founding fathers emphasized the need for schools to produce virtuous citizens

Myth #3: Can’t 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

Character education is…

A way of being, and most notably a way of

being with others.

For most educators…

It is a NEW way of being.

Character education IS rocket science

Effective character education requires

understanding character development

and the complex comprehensive

approach to character education

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

“Schools are perfectly designed for the results we are getting. If we don’t like

the results, we need to redesign schools.”

Paul HoustonExecutive Director,

American Association of School Administrators

PRIME Character Education

•PPrioritizing character education

•RRelationships

•IIntrinsic motivation

•MModeling

•EEmpowerment

PPrioritizing 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 school’s mission and of the school leader’s philosophy

“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 FultonBuilding an Intentional School Culture

Never will wisdom preside in the halls of legislation until

Common Schools…shall create a more farseeing intelligence and a pure morality than has ever

existed among the communities of men.

Horace Mann

“I’ve 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 child’s

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

“To educate a person in mind

and not in morals is to educate a menace to society”

President Theodore Roosevelt

Staff Buy-In• Relationships

– Brentwood Middle School

• Authentic collaboration• You have to feed the teachers….

– Invest in them; e.g. p.d.

• The Four W’s– Waiting you out– Work with the willing– Win over the doubters– Winnow out the un-redeemables

Examples of PPrioritizing

• Central to school mission statement

• Character related “touchstone”• School leader is the champion of

the initiative• Integrated across all school

elements

Resources for PPrioritizing• 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.

RRelationships• The 3 R’s 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

What’s done to children, they will do to society

Karl A. Menninger

Dear Teacher:

I 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

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

“Golden Child” and “Tarnished Child”

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 behave…with character!

Examples of

RRelationships• Cross-age initiatives• Cooperative learning• Service that builds sustained

relationships• Professional Learning Communities• Authentic partnerships• Looping

Resources for RRelationships• 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.

IIntrinsic 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

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 one’s place in a social

context)

Examples of IIntrinsic Motivation

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

Resources for IIntrinsic Motivation• Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The

trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, 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.

MModeling

• Cannot demand from students what you will not do yourself

• Lickona: The single most powerful tool you have for influencing a child’s 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.”

Examples of MModeling

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

behavior

Resources for MModeling

• 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.

EEmpowerment• Character develops in part through as sense of one’s 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

“The first service that one owes to

others in community consists in listening

to them. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life

Together

EEmpowerment• Character develops in part through as

sense of one’s 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

Examples of EEmpowerment

• 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

Resources for

EEmpowerment• 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.

Evidence-Based Strategies

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

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]

Effective Programs• 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

• Peacebuilders• Peaceful Schools• Peacemakers• Positive Action• Positive Youth Development• Project Essential• Raising Healthy Children• Resolving Conflict

Creatively • RIPP• Roots of EmpathyRoots of Empathy• SDM/PS• Seattle Social Development• Second Step• Social Competence• Teaching

Students/Peacemakers• Teen Outreach Program

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)

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

When in doubt…

• Go back to your bases:– PPrioritize character education

– RRelationships are the building blocks

– IIntrinsic motivation must be nurtured

– MModel good character

– EEmpower all stakeholders