FOR CHARACTER

creating schools and community for character!

January/February, 2003

An electronic newsletter to help you make sure CHARACTER COUNTS!sm

Gary Smit

CHARACTER COUNTS! and the Six Pillars of Character are service marks of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics. For more information about training opportunities and resources available to assist schools and communities in the integration of a character education initiative, check out their web site at: www.charactercounts.org or call them at 1-800-711-2670.

IN THIS ISSUE…

· A New Year Resolution to Make Character Count

· Ideas You Can Use

· What’s New on the For Character Web Page

· Upcoming National Conferences

· Criteria For Integrating Character Education

· Michael Josephson Commentary – Seven Principles of Quality Improvement

A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION TO MAKE CHARACTER COUNT!

A new year often signals a time for us to make resolutions. I don’t know if you are one to commit to making a change this year by adopting one or more resolutions. What I do know is that I often find those I make to be hard to keep. For those who have attended one of my one-day workshops, you know how I share my story about the resolution I once made on New Years to “not have another Dairy Queen snickers blizzard until I could play golf in the spring.” Of course, I failed. There was an inconsistency between what I believe and my actions.

I recently read a humorous account of New Year’s resolutions. The article began by asking, “Are you tired of making resolutions year after year that you never keep? Why not promise to do something you can actually accomplish?” The article went on to give some resolutions that one could use as a starting point:

1) Gain weight. At least 30 pounds.

2) Stop exercising. Waste of time.

3) Read less. It makes you think.

4) Watch more TV. You’ve been missing some good stuff.

5) Procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow.

Those are not the kind of resolutions I think any of us would want to adopt. Instead, let me share an activity sheet that I often use with teachers as part of a training workshop on “Moving Character Education From Words to Action.”

List two (2) actions, reflecting the pillars of character that I can take in my classroom, school, district or community:

Each day

Each week

Each month

Each grading period

This school year

Hopefully, you will find opportunity to consider these as practical resolutions to consider no matter what your role is in making sure character counts!

Gary Smit

www.forcharacter.com

IDEAS YOU CAN USE

· In his book "Where Are We Going So Fast?", Jim Warda helps us find the answers to life's biggest questions in our moments. Jim is an author, keynote speaker, and workshop presenter who has written for Chicken Soup for the Soul and the Chicago Tribune. In addition, he writes a weekly online column, which can be subscribed to by emailing join-mailto:wawgsf@mh.databack.com. His book is available at www.amazon.com.

· One of the best web sites I have found that serves as a great resource for educators is one created by Sue LeBeau. This New Jersey educator has compiled in an easy to find format, a number of links to resources that are available for teachers and administrators. I have bookmarked this page and use it regularly when asked where one can find information on character education resources for a school or classroom. But that’s not all. If you go to her home page, Sue has included links that educators will find useful on a daily basis. Sue has granted me permission to use her web site in my newsletter and trainings. Check this web site out: http://www.suelebeau.com/charactered.htm

· “Link rot” Education Week in the December 4, 2002 issue says link rot has turned the web into the world’s biggest piece of Swiss cheese: appetizing, but full of holes. Two University of Nebraska Professors began monitoring 515 education-related Internet links that were working fine in August of 2000. But after 27 months, roughly one-third of the links were extinct. http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=14linkrot-s1.h22&keywords=%22Link%20rot%22

· Students in Japan's public schools spend one hour each week in character education, which the Japanese call "moral education." According to scholar Taku Ikemoto, teachers commonly use "general principles which they may regard as having universal validity. In this sense, Japanese moral education can be called as 'virtue education.'"

http://www.belmont.edu/philosophy/courses/MoralEducationinJapn.htm.

See also: Klaus Luhmer, "Moral Education in Japan," in Journal of

Moral Education, vol. 19, no. 3, Oct 1990, pp. 172-182, online at

http://sino-sv3.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/FULLTEXT/JR-ADM/lumer.htm.]

· $20 BILL BUYS A SCHOOL SOME LESSONS IN ETHICS - Scandals involving corporate gluttony remind educators of the human capacity for selfishness and greed, and invite school lessons on discerning right from wrong. Freed from the rigors of state-imposed standards, one elite private school engages children in lessons of good and evil even before they learn multiplication, in the hope that they will be ready to make responsible decisions as adults. Read a revealing story about an effort to teach ethics that came up short. Moral of the story: all schools must periodically redouble their efforts to halt what one educator characterizes as "a crisis in virtue in the Western world."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/education/20LESS.html

· PROMOTING ETHICS & ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR- According to this report, adhering to accountability standards promotes self-regulation within the nonprofit sector. By codifying standards of ethical behavior and responsible stewardship, an organization creates a benchmark against which to measure the performance of their board, staff, volunteers, members, and associates. Issue areas that such standards should cover include mission, governance, legal and regulatory compliance, ethical practices including avoiding conflicts of interest, responsible stewardship of resources (both financial and other), disclosure policies, human resource policies regarding inclusiveness and diversity, and program evaluation. In a new website, Independent Sector has compiled standards, codes, and principles for nonprofit operation and management.

http://www.independentsector.org/issues/accountability/standards.html

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WHAT’S NEW ON THE FOR CHARACTER WEB SITE?

Code of Ethics http://www.forcharacter.com/codeofethics.html

Resource Links http://www.forcharacter.com/page7.html

Action Plan http://www.forcharacter.com/actionplan.htm

Character Building Stories http://www.forcharacter.com/page13.html

Also, there is a site map that will help you to navigate the web site.

UPCOMING NATIONAL CONFERENCES

I will be speaking at the following national conferences over the next two months:

January 18, 2003 Safe Schools Conference – Orlando, FL

http://www.ed.mtu.edu/safe/alternatives_to_expulsion_9.htm

February 24, 2003 Youth-At-Risk Conference – Savannah, GA

http://www.mentalhealth.org/15plus/

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EFFECTIVENESS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS

National Study: Fidelity of Evidence-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Programs--A national study of middle school-based substance use prevention practice, conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), showed that approximately one-quarter of lead staff who taught substance use prevention are using an evidence-based curriculum, such as Project ALERT and Life-Skills Training, indicating substantial dissemination of these programs.

Questionnaires were sent to a random sample of 1,905 middle school teachers to find out which programs they used in the classroom and how they implemented them. The study examined the extent to which evidence-based curricula are being implemented as intended and the range of school and teacher characteristics that may be associated with implementation fidelity. To assess implementation, providers were asked a series of questions concerning the content they emphasized (e.g., refusal skills, social influences knowledge) and the delivery methods they used (e.g., role-plays, lectures). Their responses were compared against standards for best practices in substance use prevention curriculum content and delivery. Results showed that less than one-third met these standards; although low, the percentage is significantly higher than for those providers not teaching an evidence-based curriculum. Both school and teacher characteristics were significantly associated with meeting the standards. Most notably, providers who were recently trained, reported comfort in using interactive delivery methods, and were in a school with a positive climate were more likely to implement curricula in accordance with these standards. Results suggest that teachers and schools need resources and support if evidence-based programs are to be implemented as intended and thus to achieve success.

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CRITERIA FOR INTEGRATING CHARACTER EDUCATION

By Kenneth Burrett and Timothy Rusnak, PDK Fastback #351

This PDK publication presents an Integrated Character Education model that takes into consideration both cognitive and affective dimensions.

Character Develops through Responsible Action

· Curriculum must allow students to confront meaningful questions in the school and community;

· Students propose imaginative solutions;

· Students become involved in activities and actions to implement solutions when feasible.

Character Develops through Interaction

· With peers, teachers and community members;

· Curriculum needs to focus on interactions with the moral and ethical dimensions of our social, cultural and ecological environments.

Character Integrates the Whole Personality

· Student develops a strong sense of identity (the mainspring of moral commitment and action);

· School provides ample activities and experiences designed to foster moral and ethical growth, involving cognitive and affective dimensions.

Character Involves Consistent Patterns of Action

· Curriculum should help students commit themselves to a set of positive values and to act on them consistently;

· Should be a function of the total school curriculum;

· Must be fused with academic curriculum, extracurricular programs, and administrative and social system of the school;

· Must involve family and community in creating a supportive environment for character development; Must allow for active student involvement, opportunities for personal growth, and commitment to a set of values that lead to consistent behavior and actions.

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COMMENTARY BY MICHAEL JOSEPHSON

Seven Principles of Quality Improvement

I recently met with hundreds of quality improvement specialists at the California State University system. That's right, there are people whose job it is to make things better. As I prepared, it struck me how similar quality improvement is to character development. Here are seven principles:

You don't have to be sick to get better. Every system or process, every person, can be improved.
Good enough, isn't. The "if it's not broke, don't fix it mentality" promotes mediocrity that evolves to inferiority. If you're not getting better, you're probably getting worse. Systems that do not adapt to changing circumstances not only become obsolete, often they become counter-productive.
There can be no improvement without change and change is scary.
All change involves risk, but failure to change involves greater risk.
No system is more powerful than the people who create or manage it. Systems, like belief patterns, are created by the human mind and they can always be modified or abandoned by choice.
The quality of service cannot exceed the quality of the systems through which it is delivered. Bad processes, confusing, irrational or out-of-date policies will yield bad products and services; bad values yield bad choices.
Changing systems even slightly can be costly; not every improvement is worth the cost.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.