Bringing Character Education to Middle and High Schools

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Bringing Character Education to Middle and High
Schools
A Partnership between St. Petersburg College and
Pinellas County Schools
CEP Forum October 2008
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Pinellas County Character Partnership
A Partnerships in Character Education Federal
Grant
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Goals

• Increase academic achievement among all
  participating students
• Reduce the number of suspension in participating
  schools
• Enhance local capacity to implement and sustain a
  highly effective character education program

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Elementary Level

• National and State Schools of Character to mentor
  other schools
• Reading
• Character Education
• Character Education Mentoring
• Teacher visits
• Class visits/projects
• Parent/PTA
• Training
• Comparative Analysis to investigate effect of
  character education on reading initiative

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Secondary Level

• Integrate character education into existing
  curriculum
• Model lesson/best practice handbook
• Teacher training
• Service Learning Projects
• Student Advisory Council
• Ethics Bowl
• Student Leadership Workshops

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Parent/Community

• Family/Community Workshops
• Lending Library
• Website
• Social Marketing Campaign
• Cross School Service Learning Projects
• Community Partnerships

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SPCs Grant Projects

• County-wide high school Ethics Bowl competition
• Middle/high school character-based leadership
  training academy
• Character-based parenting workshops

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The Applied Ethics Programat St. Petersburg
College
Keith Goree, Director
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SPCs Applied Ethics Institute

• Created in 1999 for community outreach and
  student reinforcement
• Faculty driven and staffed

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Applied Ethics at SPC

• General Education requirement since 1984
• Stand-alone courses
• Independent department
• Director reports to Provost
• 100,000 students
• 10 FT, 30 ADJ instructors

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SPC Applied Ethics Courses

• Electives
• Ethics in Pop Culture
• Discovering Your Personal Ethics
• Ethics Bowl Lab
• Critical Thinking
• Ethics for Educators

• General Education
• Applied Ethics
• Honors A.E.
• Professional Ethics
• Healthcare Ethics
• Public Safety Ethics

• Electives
• Ethics in Pop Culture
• Discovering Your Personal Ethics
• Ethics Bowl Lab
• Critical Thinking
• Ethics for Educators

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Applied Ethics Institute

• Programs for Students
• Student Ethics Forums
• Campus ethics clubs
• Ethics Bowl team
• Student community service projects
• Campus ethics events/speakers

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Applied Ethics Institute

• Business/Organizational Programs
• Ethics for Educators, Florida K-12 teachers
• Organizational Ethical Culture Consulting
• Ethical Leadership Luncheons
• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
• CEU training
• Hospitals - ethics committees staff training

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Applied Ethics Institute

• Programs for the Community
• Partnerships w/ community groups
• Character-based parenting workshops
• Ethics speakers bureau
• Grant partnership w/ school system
• Characters with Character (library story-time)?

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Commitment to Character
Julie M. Janssen, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools
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History of C2C

• Origin of Project 1995
• Collaboration with the Community
• Elementary Schools
• School Counselors
• Core Team
• State Law

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Working Together
C2C

• United effort among students, parents, staff and
  community
• Supported by District
• Safe and Drug Free School
• Education Foundation
• Federal Partnerships in Character Education Grant
• Not a stand-alone activity or program
• Creates an ethical culture that permeates
  throughout the hearts and minds of everyone!

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Components of C2C

• Common Language
• Teachable Moments
• Access Literature
• Modeling
• Service Learning
• Ethical Decision-Making

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Commitment to CharacterMonth by Month
August Respect Sept. Responsibility Oct.
Cooperation Nov. Citizenship Dec.
Kindness Jan. Self-Motivation
Feb. Tolerance March Honesty April
Self-control May Caring June Courage July
Patriotism
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Involving the Community
St. Petersburg Times Newspaper In Education
Character Series
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Curriculum Integration
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Evaluation Florida Mental Health
Institute

• Results showed a significant correlation between
  implementation of C2C and suspensions.
• Schools with more complete implementation of the
  program had fewer total suspensions than those
  schools with less complete implementation.
• Implementation of C2C was significantly
  correlated with a change in suspensions from 2002
  to 2003.
• Schools with more complete implementation show a
  significantly greater reduction in suspensions
  over two years.

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Secondary Level

• What will work?
• Ethical Culture
• Common Language
• What are the challenges?
• Change in relationship between students and
  teachers
• Finding a Champion
• Schedule and Structure

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Ethical Culture and Common Language

• Ethics Bowl
• Student Leadership Project
• Integrating into Curriculum
• Service Learning
• Parent/Community Workshops
• Teachable Moments
• Modeling

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Ethics Bowl

• Teaching teachers how to teach Ethical Thinking
• Providing opportunities to practice critical
• thinking and research skills
• Building a student base of trained Ethical
  Thinkers
• Introducing concepts and vocabulary of Ethical
• Thinking
• Using dilemmas to create interest in discussing
• ethical issues

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EB pictures here
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Student Leadership Project

• Increasing student involvement in
• character education
• Building a cadre of students with ethical
• leadership skills
• Introducing concepts and vocabulary of
• Ethical Thinking
• Developing skills to solve relevant ethical
• problems
• Providing opportunities for ethical leaders to go
• back into the school setting with a set of
  goals
• and actions to share with the school community

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Student Leadership Opportunities

• Student Leadership Workshops
• Community Building Days
• Character-based Leadership
• Training Academy
• Lead On! Adventure Team Course
• Community Opportunities

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From the Students Perspective
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Integrating into Curriculum

• Creating an Ethical Culture
• Where ethical vocabulary and concepts permeate
  all activities
• Literature
• All great literature can be viewed through the
  lens of
• ethical thinking
• Science
• Science raises many legitimate ethical issues,
  especially
• concerning the use, or abuse, of
  science
• Technology
• A force for both ethical and unethical behavior
• All Classes
• We have to treat each other with Respect and act
  ethically
• in every environment

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Service Learning

• Difference between Community Service
• and Service Learning
• Using Service Learning to build on the
• ethical culture of the school
• In school and out of school opportunities

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Parent/Community Workshops

• Spreading the concepts and vocabulary of
• Ethical Thinking to the home
• Simple ideas and activities to encourage
• discussion about ethical issues
• Using existing cultural practices as a
• framework for ethical discussions
• Using common dilemmas to shape ethical
• conversations

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Evaluation
Tangible increase use of vocabulary and concepts
in discussion less violence and more use of
alternatives to violence increase in
volunteerism increase in academic
performance more reported contact with ethical
behavior Intangible more reported satisfaction
with daily interactions more reported feelings of
safety in school more reported feelings of
acceptance
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PCCP Evaluation

• Challenges of Evaluation
• Results
• Average increase in CEP Self Assessment Rate
  0.86
• Average change in Suspension Rate
• ESE Students - 3
• Non ESE Students 1.4
• Average increase in Level 3 or Above on FCAT
• Reading scores 1.7
• Math scores 1.5

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Addressing the Challenges

• Convincing adults that Ethical Thinking both can
• and should be taught
• Convincing adults that Ethical Behavior both can
• and should be modeled
• Demonstrating that Ethical Culture can create a
• positive and rewarding educational experience
• Making the connection between character
• education and academic achievement

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Presenters

• Jan Urbanski, Ed.D.
• Supervisor, Office of Safe
• Drug-Free Schools,
• Pinellas County (FL) Schools
• urbanskij_at_pcsb.org
• George Sherman
• Applied Ethics Institute,
• St. Petersburg College
• sherman.george_at_spcollege.edu