What is CHARACTERplus®?
CHARACTERplus®;, a project of Cooperating School Districts, works to advance the cause of character education and sustain its impact on the lives of educators and students by:
- designing, promoting and facilitating processes and best practices;
- serving educators and enhancing their commitment to character education;
- actively recruiting and developing community support; and
- continually evaluating the impact of our programs and services.
Started in 1988 by a concerned group of educators, parents and business leaders who decided that something had to be done about the deterioration of basic values, CHARACTERplus now reaches more than 600 schools in over 100 districts, 25,000 teachers and more than 300,000 students throughout Missouri and Illinois.
CHARACTERplus also has the support of over 30 businesses, countless individuals, as well as foundations, federal and state grants. It is the nation’s largest community-wide initiative in character education.
CHARACTERplus helps schools build consensus about what values or character traits to teach and which programs to use. Using the CHARACTERplus Process, each school develops a character education curriculum and program that meets its community’s unique needs.
Our Mission
To develop positive character traits in young people by providing a high quality character education process and resources to schools, homes, and communities.Ten Essentials of the CHARACTERplus® Process
1. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION - Educators, parents, students and members of the community invest themselves in a consensus-building process to discover common ground that is essential for long-term success.2. CHARACTER EDUCATION POLICY - Character education is a part of the district’s philosophy, goal or mission statement, including a formal, written policy adopted by the school board. In this way it becomes a part of the leadership of the school and community. The district policy also should be affirmed and supported at the building and classroom levels.
3. IDENTIFIED AND DEFINED TRAITS - Parents, teachers and community representatives agree on which character traits to emphasize and what definitions to use. Developing consensus on the definitions is key and the early involvement of students enriches the process. Once the traits are defined, they should be highly visible throughout the school and community.
4. INTEGRATED CURRICULUM - Character education is an integral part of the curriculum at all grade levels. Character traits are connected to classroom lessons so students see how a trait might figure into a story, be part of a science experiment, or how it might affect them. These traits are a part of the instruction of the day — in every class and every subject.
5. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING - Students are given many opportunities to experience character traits and express them in action. Community-based, real-world experiences that illustrate character traits are included in the curriculum. Service learning, cooperative learning and peer mentoring can be an important part of this approach. Ample time is also allowed for discussion and reflection.
6. EVALUATION - The character education initiative — including the implementation process, program activities and impact on students — is evaluated on a regular basis to determine if it is achieving the anticipated results and to validate that the processes and structures being implemented are working. Evaluation data are used to improve the program.
7. ADULT ROLE MODELS - Children “learn what they live” so it is important that all adults in the school community who interact with children on a daily basis demonstrate positive character traits at home, school and in the community. Adults need to reflect and focus on important character traits and how to model them systematically and intentionally. If adults do not model the behavior they teach, the entire program will fail.
8. STAFF DEVELOPMENT - Significant time and resources are allocated for staff development activities so that staff can create and implement character education on an ongoing basis. Time for discussion and understanding of both the process and the programs, as well as for creation of curriculum and lesson plans, is an important part of training activities.
9. STUDENT INVOLVEMENT AND LEADERSHIP - Students are involved in age-appropriate activities and allowed to connect character education to their learning, decision making and personal goals as the process is integrated across the school curriculum.
10. SUSTAINING THE PROGRAM - The character education program is sustained and renewed through implementation of the first nine essential elements, with particular attention to: a high level of commitment from the top; adequate funding; support for district coordination staff; high-quality and ongoing professional development; and a networking and support system for teachers who are implementing the program.
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