Kara Streppa Ricki Borek Technology Supported Presentation Presentation Outline Technology used: http://login.sliderocket.com/ What is character education?

? o Proactive educational movement supporting social, emotional and ethical development of students. o Teaches values: Caring, honesty, diligence, fairness, fortitude, responsibility and respect for self and others. Students must understand why it is important to live by these characteristics o Improve social competencies o Teach moral development o Teaches students to be best selves and how to do their best work o Provides solutions to ethical and academic issues o Having children learn appropriate conduct and social skills is critical for developing self-esteem and self-confidence in all social situations- which will become even more important as these children grow into adults entering the professional world Why teach social skills? Why do we need character education? o Having children learn appropriate conduct and social skills is critical for developing self-esteem and self-confidence in all social situations- which will become even more important as these children grow into adults entering the professional world o Social competencies have been linked with higher levels of achievement and school adjustment o On the negative, a lack of this results in disruptive classroom behavior, aggression, delinquency, and substance abuse. Furthermore, it is associated with poor academic achievement and little school involvement o Several recent studies showed that 85% of our future success depends on social skills. Conducted by Harvard University, Stanford Research Institute, and the Carnegie Foundation Our children currently stand a 1-in-4 chance of being victims of schoolbased violence before they reach high school, in spite of the trillions of dollars spent each year in this country on anti-bullying programs. o April 2003 report by the research group Public Agenda showed that 43 percent of teachers in public o schools spend more time on dealing with behavior issues than they do

teaching. o 30% of teachers know a colleague who left education because of discipline problems o A 1999 poll by ABC NEWS/World News Tonight reported that 73 percent of Americans thought manners were worse than 20 or 30 years ago What do some schools already do? o Schools commonly use support services, intervention curricula, and discipline management strategies. Many of these programs are targeted programs; that is, they focus on addressing behavior problems for children who are at risk or for children who are already exhibiting adjustment difficulties. How does it work? o Must be effective program to be successful o Many different programs with different structures approaches, and theories Character Counts Social Smarts Tribes Many online resources, lesson plans & ideas for implementing character education Universal approaches: they focus on preventing problems before they occur by addressing factors that place youth at risk for problem behavior and promoting factors that foster positive youth development. Character education programs Social and emotional learning programs Behavior management programs Universal approaches o All have in common: the desired goal of promoting students social development and reducing engagement in problem behavior. These approaches improve social and character development. o Character Education Programs: teach moral values o Social and Emotional Learning Programs: stress goal-setting, emotion identification, responsible decision making, perspective-taking, and effective interpersonal skills o Behavior Management Programs: positive reinforcement, consistent school wide discipline, and minimize disruptive and aggressive behaviors and promote prosocial behaviors Evidence of these programs is mixed! Some have yet to be truly evaluated or do not have statistically significant effects

A Character Development Program

The PoliteChild, Inc. Privately held corporation, based in Woodinville, Washington. Strong beliefs in giving back to the community. Promotes a strong sense of mutual respect and ethics Motto: We need to put civil back into civilization. Creators of SocialSmarts SocialSmarts Age-specific curriculum For students from toddlers to teens Designed to have students understand how they should behave and why they should behave that way. Ground students in important virtues (Respect, compassion, trustworthiness, integrity, etc.) Teach skills that allows students to be successful in school and beyond Benefits Improvement in overall academic test scores Findings not only show a consistent increase in those test scores in all our schools, but that these increases continue year after year while the school has our programs in place! 80% decrease in major disciplinary action Bullying is virtually eliminated Increased student time-on-task Decreased student absenteeism Improvements in the learning environment Character First (Washington D.C.) Helps people see the value of good character. Promotes success Inward values that determine outward actions Inward motivation to do what is right in every situation -Integrates character into daily activities Emphasize: read stories of men and women with good character. Study the 36 character qualities (split into four series); look at the series or focus on a few per month. Some: Responsibility, Forgiveness, Patience, Enthusiasm, Determination, Obedience Require: raise standards of good character and lower acceptance of bad behavior Recognize: take note of good character and praise students -Reinforces positive behavior -Corrects inappropriate behavior

-Includes teaching curriculum And training for teachers, parents, and youth workers Supplies a wealth of age-appropriate illustrations, activities, applications, and object lessons. Integrate character into daily lesson plans and activities U of I Extension Provides training and resources about character development across Illinois Mission: to enable people to improve their lives and communities through learning partnerships that put knowledge to work. Teaching people to make moral judgments Know the good, love the good, do the good -Enables people to improve their lives and communities -Can be found in school, after school programs, and youth groups Partnering with Character Education Partnership (CEP) to offer the Illinois Schools of Character (IL -SSOC) competitionposted on their site 10 public and private schools get acknowledged for their outstanding character education programs Is it effective in raising school achievement or in any other way? o Research is limited, studies inconclusive o Evidence is mixed o Many programs have yet to be evaluated o Programs that have been evaluated show some improvement in academic achievement o Studies have shown improved academic performance on achievement tests and grades 11-percentile gain in academic performance o Found that teachers can implement it throughout the school day during routine educational practices, and if done effectively, there is no need for outside personnel. o Successful at all educational levels o How can it improve grades? Link between social-emotional variables and academic performance Students who are more confident do better More responsible decisions about studying/doing homework Multi-Program Evaluation A study of 213 school based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL)

programs involving over 270,000 students (k- high school). Purpose of study: find the effects of school based SEL programming on behavior and academic performance and discuss the implications (implementation) SEL programs promote the integration of emotion, cognition, communication, and behavior Compared to control, SEL participants reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement and had higher academic performance very noteworthy! Schools have an important role in not only cognitive development but social and emotional as well There are implementation problems with some schoolsprograms need to be well designed and well conducted/ well-executed *Outside sources question if promoting childrens social and emotional skills will actually improve behavioral and academic outcomes Effective Character Education: necessary for success 11 principles for effective character education (character education partnership) Promotes core ethical and performance values. Defines "character" comprehensively to include thinking, feeling, and doing. Uses a comprehensive, intentional, and proactive approach to character development. Creates a caring community. Provides students with opportunities for moral action. Offers a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum. Fosters students self-motivation. Engages staff as a learning community. Fosters shared leadership. Engages families and community members as partners. Regularly assesses the culture and climate of the school. Works Cited

"Character Development - University of Illinois Extension." University of Illinois Character. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://web.extension.illinois.edu/character/index.cfm>. Character Education Partnership. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <www.character.org>. Durlak, Joseph A., Roger P. Weissberg, Allison B. Dymnicki, Rebecca D. Taylor, and Kriston B. Schellinger. "Child Development." Wiley Online Library.

Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.14678624.2010.01564.x/full>. "Efficacy of Schoolwide Programs to Promote Social and Character Development and Reduce Problem." U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Educational Sciences. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20112001/pdf/20112001.pdf>. "Is Character Education Effective?" Character First the Magazine. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://cfthemagazine.com/2010-08/is-character-educationeffective/>. SocialSmarts by The PoliteChild - Social Skills, End Bullying, Character Education, Improve Test Scores, Teacher Effectiveness. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.politechild.com/>.