IMPLEMENTING CHARACTER EDUCATION
By Esther F. Schaeffer
Today, however, it has reappeared on the nation's educational radar screen. Early signs indicate that schools emphasizing character education, which focuses on the development of characteral virtue, are seeing impressive results.
The Character Education Partnership (CEP) -- a national nonpartisan coalition of individuals and organizations devoted to developing moral character in youths -- defines this principle as "the long-term process of helping young people develop good character," that is, knowing, caring about and acting on core ethical values such as fairness, honesty, compassion, responsibility and respect for oneself and others. The goal is to surround students in an environment that exhibits, teaches and encourages practice in the values society needs. As a result, children will not only be informed of these values, but also will internalize them and make decisions and act in accordance with them. This requires a focus on values throughout the school curriculum and culture.
It takes time, effort and often staff development to integrate character education into schools, but the investment is proving to be worth the effort. Middle schools and high schools across the country that have adopted the twin goals of academic and character development have seen impressive results in their overall climate and culture, in the level of the students' community commitment, in parental involvement and even in higher academic achievement. Character education works in schools of diverse size, with populations ranging from homogeneous to heterogeneous, and with students from families across the socioeconomic spectrum.
To be effective, character education must be deliberate and intentional. It must be incorporated into all aspects of school life -- from the academic day to sports and other extracurricular activities. It must be a hallmark of all interpersonal relationships among adults and students.
Schools that have established good character education have created caring environments that are sensitive to behavioral issues -- the isolation of certain children and animosities among different groups or factions. These institutions have built strong communication and understanding among students and with adults. They are responsive to problems and have teachers, administrators and students who often are willing to take action and assume responsibility when another student appears troubled.
The schools that stand out in this regard share certain characteristics. Invariably, they have a committed administrative leadership -- which includes not only principals, but also assistants and guidance counselors. They have a common vocabulary -- a set of values integrated into the study of literature, history and other subjects. (Mount Lebanon High School, outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, accomplishes this even in less likely subjects as science and mathematics.) They weave character education into staff development. (Leesville Middle School in Wake County, North Carolina, for example, organizes teachers into teams that use character development as a central element in their joint curricular and lesson planning.) They focus on mutual respect. They find ways of incorporating community service into their agenda. And, like Youth Opportunities Unlimited -- an alternative public school in San Diego, California, populated by at-risk students redirected or expelled from other district schools -- they get results. At Youth Opportunities Unlimited, the dropout rate fell from 23 percent during the 1994-95 term to less than 13 percent two years later.
While character education is neither a short-term solution, nor a guarantee against the eruption of violence, it certainly is a vital part of the solution overall.
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Esther F. Schaeffer is executive director of CEP in Washington, D.C. This article is reprinted with permission from the October 1999 issue of the National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin. Copyright © National Association of Secondary School Principals.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.
PLANNING SAFER SCHOOLS
By Richard Dieffenbach
While the public in the United States debates the causes of, and solutions to, the recent spate of incidents of violent crime in schools, these institutions are facing up to the need to be prepared to deal with anything that might happen. To assist them, state emergency management agencies across the nation are offering their services to help make schools safer and protect children.
For emergency managers, the shootings in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999 and other events elsewhere demonstrated how vital a swift and effective response must be. School officials and local authorities are becoming aware of the need to coordinate emergency services -- including sheriff's offices, city and state police, bomb squads, firefighters, telephone dispatchers, paramedics and hospitals. And they must learn how to deal with the media, government officials on various levels, and, of course, parents. Less dramatic crises, from bomb scares to natural disasters, can also stir up frenzied activity.
"The problem with emergencies is that they happen so rarely," says Peter Clark, a Vermont school principal whose building was threatened by flooding. "The problem is how quickly they happen."
State emergency managers are prepared to help schools develop good plans because they deal with all kinds of crises on a regular basis. "We're experts in all-hazards planning," says Gary McConnell, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. "I think we have a lot to offer schools in this regard."
School violence prompted him to implement a new program for schools and local officials in a state in which several incidents brought the topic home. The program tailors training sessions for each school district. It includes instruction on how to create an emergency plan, conduct drills and searches, coordinate with emergency services and respond to the media.
State emergency managers say schools need foresight that is as broad and inclusive as possible. "We help our schools write comprehensive plans that apply to all kinds of hazards, like storms and chemical spills," says Woody Fogg, director of New Hampshire's Emergency Management Office. "That kind of plan will make schools ready for anything."
The key to planning, say emergency management coordinators, is through partnerships with educators, community leaders, parents and public safety personnel. In Arizona, the partnership involves the state department of education, state universities and the corporate world, represented by the Bank of America. Partners provide technical and financial support to make schools safe. The program that has been established by these partnerships includes two days of training for local teams -- including school board members, administrators, faculty, school maintenance personnel, parents, local officials and public safety staffers.
With members of the community involved, it is more likely that plans will actually be implemented. Ed von Turkovich, director of emergency management for the state of Vermont, believes that students should be a facet of the partnership. "Most important, having students involved helps build better citizens in the future."
For the most part, state emergency management directors feel their role is to assist schools and local authorities -- "to provide communities with the tools they need to prepare for and respond effectively to anything, not to tell them what to do," says Fogg.
In creating their programs, state emergency officials have taken advantage of existing resources and methods. Arizona makes use of a school safety course taught by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that has been adapted to meet the state's needs, including adding a major school violence component. New Hampshire's curriculum uses an "incident command system" originally designed for the military. Under this system, school personnel become emergency managers with specific roles and responsibilities.
Many state lawmakers are considering legislation encouraging or requiring schools to plan. In addition, they are studying a wide variety of preventive measures -- additional school counselors, toll-free phone "tip" lines -- as well as increasing punishments for students involved in threats, assaults, or other forms of violent behavior.
In all, these state programs, which continue to expand, have given school systems a sense of reassurance that the emergency management corps will be present if or when schools face life-threatening situations. At the same time, the state agencies have brought a degree of empowerment to these communities, providing them with the tools to help and protect themselves, to make their schools, and their children, safer.
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Richard Dieffenbach is a policy analyst with the National Emergency Management Association of the Council of State Governments. Copyright &3169; 1999 The Council of State Governments. Reprinted with permission from State Government News.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.
PEER HELP THROUGH SERVICE: LEARNING HELPFULNESS
By Deborah Hecht
Walk into the Hoboken (New Jersey) Charter School and you might see a high school student engaged in a lively discussion with a third-grader about an art exhibit they visited the day before. In another classroom, you may find a second-grader reading a book to a kindergarten youngster. Further down the hall, two first-graders are discussing the city's plans for a new recycling program.
This is a school committed to education through service learning -- using it as an educational pedagogy to encourage students from all parts of a culturally, ethnically and economically diverse urban region to work together to address their community's needs. The children are urged to define "community," and "needs," as they apply to themselves, their families, their school and their city.
The term "service learning" refers to an experiential teaching and learning method that is becoming common in schools across the United States. It provides students with the opportunity to apply both academic and non-academic skills to real-life situations. Students become involved in some type of meaningful community service activity that is then linked to their learning through carefully guided periods of reflection and analysis. It is a concept that has been endorsed universally -- by educators, youth program specialists, politicians and even those engaged in monitoring the juvenile justice system. A number of states require community service for high school graduation eligibility, and increasingly, college application forms seek evidence of such voluntary involvement by prospective students. Indeed, through various acts of the U.S. Congress during the past decade, service learning, in effect, has become the law of the land, with more than one million children actively involved in community service.
Although both community service and service learning are encouraged and supported, there is a difference between the two. For example, planting a community garden might be a community service project. It would evolve into service learning if the goal would be to help students develop an understanding of botany or geometry. Furthermore, as is generally agreed by participants and supervisors, a service learning activity must meet a real need, must be ongoing, and should include four key elements -- planning, service, reflection and celebration.
The types of learning that occur in the process are as varied as the service activities themselves. The most commonly identified learning goals are students' growth in academic areas, advancement in personal development (such as increased tolerance for others or self-comprehension), preparation for careers and enhancing one's sense of civic responsibility. Frequently, the programs are conceived to help students meet national, state and local standards. For example, students might learn history by interviewing and spending time with senior citizens. They might learn effective literary techniques by writing books for younger children. And they might expand their awareness of citizenship and science skills by cleaning up neighborhoods and planting gardens.
Is service learning real learning? If students spend time engaged in these activities, doesn't it reduce the amount of time available for their classroom assignments and preparation? The fact is that research shows that even when students spend time away from school because of service commitments, their academic achievement does not suffer. The greatest and most demonstrable impact, however, has been in the psychosocial and personal-development areas. Students invariably view their work as meaningful. They develop a sense of self-confidence. They maintain that they care about others and learn to understand differences among people. And generally, they wind up feeling good about themselves.
Intriguing, too, is the fact that carefully designed service experiences do not show preference to the most popular, the brightest or the most affluent student. Service learning is a leveler. Indeed, it is often the case that those students who are typically either disruptive or disengaged during traditional classroom learning thrive when they have the opportunity to work on a service program. For example, a student unable, or unwilling, to sit still during a 40-minute history period may welcome the opportunity to facilitate a senior citizen dance.
Through service learning, young people find that their efforts are valued by others, that they can make a positive difference, and they can connect with caring adults, thereby establishing themselves as contributing members of the community at large.
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Deborah Hecht is an educational psychologist and researcher at the Center for Advanced Study in Education, Graduate Center, City University of New York. Copyright © 1999 by Social Policy Corporation. Reprinted with permission from the Fall 1999 issue of Social Policy.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Government.