In 2003, the Character Education Partnership published a landmark volume: Beland, K., Tolman, J., Posey, J., & Davidson, M. (2003). Eleven Principles Sourcebook: How to Achieve Quality Character Education in K-12 Schools. Washington, DC: Character Education Partnership.
The outcome of an impressive collaboration, drawing from theory, research, and best practice, the Sourcebook lives up to its name as a comprehensive resource for those planning to bring character education into their schools or districts in systematic ways. However, as we will note, the Sourcebook is a large document; it is not subway reading. And it is a written document, which means that people are going to have to find ways to put its ideas into action. Indeed, over the past 2 years, we have found ourselves needing to find ways to put the concepts and tools from the Sourcebook into practice in New Jersey in various contexts. We believe our experiences with implementation will be valuable for others who also want to put the Sourcebook to sound use. We begin with an overview of the document and a description of how the document is introduced to people through a national training program. This is followed by a description of how the Sourcebook is used by the New Jersey Center for Character Education in its statewide training programs. Finally, we present an application of the Sourcebook outside of a strictly character education (CE) context, to show how it was used as part of a training program to prepare individuals for the role of social-emotional learning (SEL) coordinator in their schools or districts.
Character Education Partnership’s Sourcebook/Institutes and Seminars
As a participant walks into a Character Education Partnership (CEP) Eleven Principles Sourcebook Seminar/Institute, signs-in at the registration table, and is handed their copy of the Sourcebook … there is a juggling of personal stuff and coffee, which at times creates a soft laughter and a humorous comment such as, “great doorstop.” There is no doubt that the CEP Sourcebook, fitted with the appropriate handles and bought in duplicate, is not only an aid for building character, but also has use as a vehicle for weight training. Learning how to physically manipulate and navigate this imposing tome is not an irrelevancy, especially if one wants to impress upon others that this document is manageable to use. The reality however, is that the huge three ring binder reflects a new level of awareness and concern about systematic implementation of character education programs and curricula.
The Sourcebook binder houses CEP’s 11 Principles, a Video/DVD, and Character Education Quality Standards. The Principles are a framework for the implementation and infusion of any comprehensive character education initiative. The binder consists of 11 Guidebooks, with each Guidebook solely designated to one of the 11 Principles:
Creating A Foundation
Understanding Character Development
Developing A Comprehensive Approach
Creating A Caring School Community
Providing Opportunities For Moral Action
Providing A Meaningful Academic Curriculum
Fostering Students’ Intrinsic Motivation
Engaging School Staff
Fostering Shared Leadership
Engaging Family And Community Members
Evaluation Tool Kit
Workshop participants are encouraged to take a moment to do a finger-walk through the Guidebooks so they can see that each is structured to contain research and philosophy, along with examples of program implementation drawn largely from National Schools of Character Awards (NSOC) winners and semifinalists and program components that have been recognized as promising practices. When the binder is popped open and each of the 11 Guidebooks is physically taken out of the Sourcebook and spread out across a conference table (or floor), the systemic framework that is offered becomes evident.
The “Character Education: Making a Difference” Video/DVD is a good introductory presentation for defining character education and what it can do for students and teachers, culture and climate, within our schools. The video runs for 11 minutes and shows, from the perspective of administrators, teachers, student support staff, and students, what schools look like from elementary through high school when they embrace the 11 Principles of Character in a way that is coordinated and also integrated with academic standards. Most of the Guidebooks contain a facilitation guide, preassessment, exercises that serve as tools to facilitate implementation, and a postassessment.
The Quality Standards, as stated on the pamphlet cover,
is a tool for schools and districts for self-assessment, and outlines the key components of effective character education, and allows schools and districts to assess their efforts in relation to these criteria. This instrument provides a means for reflecting on current practices, identifying short and long-term objectives, and developing or improving a strategic plan.
The Quality Standards are benchmarks for schools/districts to assess where they currently are, to decide where they want to be, and then to be able to create an action plan to map out how they will get there. The Sourcebook becomes a major support for those plans, particularly if schools aspire to submit for NSOC consideration.
Professional development/training is offered on the 11 Principles in three different fashions. The training can be 1 or 2 days (or more), and delivered as an Institute, Seminar or Conference/Retreat. An Institute is a regional training where teams from different schools and districts come together for the 1 or 2 days; the seminar is initiated by a school or district and is delivered at their location, customized to the specific needs of that community. The 11 Principles are also trained through conferences and retreats and each October at the CEP Fall Forum. All styles of professional development offer a foundational overview that creates awareness for review of current practices and an arena for creating an action plan. Participants get a refreshed view of their current status of program infusion by cross-walking their current programs/program components, along with their state core curriculum content standards, into the 11 Principles. This activity may be done with Post-It Notes, singularly listing out each program and component or core academic content area. A gallery walk places the Post-It Notes on the individual guidebook/principle to which it corresponds. Areas that are addressed in a comprehensive manner, as well as those that have voids will surface. This will aid in prioritizing areas for the action/activity plan.
One or 2 day Sourcebook training events are beneficial to all individuals in the school and surrounding community, including the School Board, administrative leadership, staff, parents, and community members. Therefore, perhaps the most important recommendation is the creation of a character education local advisory team. Having a team attend a training is a key to effective implementation because ultimately, it is essential to bring all stakeholders around the table for a comprehensive systemic plan that can be implemented K-12, or broken up into the different grade/school levels. Regardless of what stage of implementation the project is at, having local school and district-wide teams is a strategy to put in place a cohesive thread that will support and grow a comprehensive character education effort/initiative.
This is an especially important point, because the task of establishing character education comprehensively in a school or district is a long-term process and must occur through a planful sequence of steps and with attention to examining and coordinating existing character education efforts currently in place. The Sourcebook provides character education committees with tools to wrap around and pull together all the floating pieces in a way that can produce a school/district environment that enhances the core curriculum content standards/academics. As the school culture and climate embrace the affective domain of each member of the school community, an environment that is more conducive for learning is created.
Challenges and Recommendations
Challenges at hand are program sustainability and buy-in from staff. Sustainability has more of a chance of occurring once capacity within the school/district is created. The best way to build that capacity is to schedule follow-up services after the training with in-school/in-classroom coaching and mentoring. Some schools/districts are also supporting their efforts by designating a character education coordinator, but this position must be truly invested with support and authority if it is to function to its potential. Buy-in from staff is essential and time is needed to explore and consider what is valued within the school community by all stakeholders (remember to ask the students for their input). Surveys to gather information on the current status of the school and district culture and climate are beneficial and once the data are graphed and tangible, staff members have an opportunity to look at what exists, and make decisions about change.
As is well known, change is hard and most people prefer someone else to go first. Those who attend a CEP Seminar/Institute are likely to have bought into the approach. To bring others along, however, requires time and cultivation and the Sourcebook, especially Guidebook #3, addresses this cogently and realistically. For example, leadership by example is essential for creating positive momentum in school settings. Spending time within a professional development day(s), to give staff opportunity to explore their thoughts and ideas, and to put some ideas into action as a team(s), are also vital for long-term buy-in. The training can only serve to introduce participants to all the richness in the Sourcebook; having a team available to follow up, build their own expertise in Sourcebook content, ideas, procedures, and examples makes it more likely that implementation at the school or district level will take place.
For an actual look at how the CEP Eleven Principles Sourcebook has been used as a resource, we now look at a statewide professional development effort for educators in New Jersey.
Statewide Professional Development: Background
In June 2005, the New Jersey Center for Character Education (NJCCE) at Rutgers University became the first state affiliate site for CEP educator training in character education. CEP’s affiliation with NJCCE was designed to increase significantly the opportunities for high quality professional development for character educators in the state of New Jersey based on CEP’s Eleven Principles Sourcebook.
New Jersey was chosen, in part, because it has made a substantial commitment to support character education programs in its public schools. Ninety-nine percent of public school districts have initiated character education programs with the help of $4.75 million in designated state aid to school districts in each year from FY2001-2006. The funding has had bipartisan legislative support and continuous gubernatorial leadership.
Many districts in the state, ranging from urban districts like Jersey City, Plainfield, and Elizabeth, and more suburban settings such as Hamilton, Cherry Hill, and Monroe Township, have made character education among their explicit district goals on a par with academic success. Brown and Elias (2004) have examined the impact that New Jersey’s investment in character education has made on schools and districts throughout the state. They note that even districts in the state with some of the most intractable education problems have embraced a character education approach. In Jersey City, State Superintendent Charles Epps announced at a start-of-school convocation before more than 4,000 school staff and parent and community representatives that comprehensive infusion of character education was the third goal of the district, along with mathematics and literacy.
The precursor to the NJCCE and the main vehicle through which character education programs and services had been delivered in New Jersey schools was the New Jersey Character Education Partnership (NJCEP) Initiative, administered by the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE). The purpose of the Initiative has been to assist public school educators throughout New Jersey to adopt high quality character education programs that meet the developmental needs of students by promoting pro-social student behaviors and creating a caring, disciplined school climate conducive to learning.
Njcep Initiative and the Eleven Principles of Effective Education
The NJCEP Initiative has consistently referenced and recommended the Eleven Principles document to New Jersey educators at critical steps in the character education planning and implementation process. It has been referenced in the NJDOE guidelines to the NJCEP application for state aid funding, it was included in the NJDOE Character Education Program Resources Profile Directory, and now exists as a link on the NJCCE Web site (http:// www.nj-charactered.net/) in the NJCCE On-line Character Education Profile Directory. It has also been accessible via links from NJCCE’s and NJDOE’s Character Education Web sites.
So, historically in New Jersey, the Eleven Principles had been widely disseminated and set forth as a standard framework which character educators could voluntarily choose to use in building effective, high quality character education programs in their schools and districts. With clear guidance in place, state aid funding available annually, and technical support and guidance from NJDOE and NJCCE, expectations for high quality character education work were high.
Since the beginning of the initiative in 2000, student participation has grown from 270,377 students in the 2000-01 school year to 943,622 students during 2003-04, a clear pattern of growth in participation with no increase in funds granted to schools. (Outcome reports are available on the NJDOE’s Character Education Web site, http://www.state.nj.us/njded/chared/outcomes/).
It is also significant to note that the number of nationally recognized promising practices and National Schools of Character (NSOC) awards from CEP went from 6 in 2000 to 23 in 2005. New Jersey has received more national awards from CEP (59) than any other state in the country. This national recognition is a testament to the effectiveness of the sustained emphasis New Jersey has brought to character education over the past 6 years. (It is also worth noting that as the NSOC awards use the Quality Standards as their rubric, the dissemination of the Sourcebook is likely to eventuate in students’ receiving more high quality programs in New Jersey and nationally.)
Acknowledging that significant progress has been made, and well-deserved successes recognized, two important facts still confronted character educators in New Jersey: (1) many students are still not being touched significantly by character education efforts, and (2) it remains that educators still face difficult challenges in implementing, evaluating and sustaining quality programs. Many educators are still looking for the answers to questions such as, “How do I consistently apply the Eleven Principles in my school?” or “How do we take our character education initiative district wide?” or “I’m on board 100% with character education, but my principal has other priorities. How do I get the necessary buy-in?” or “What does this look like in a real school setting?” or “Look, I don’t have time for character. If my kids’ test scores don’t go up this year, I won’t be around to discuss anyone’s character!” These are difficult questions for teachers to answer on their own.
Moving to the Next Level
NJCCE and NJDOE recognized they had a unique opportunity to support these educators and expand the character education field in New Jersey. By introducing the Sourcebook, teachers could take advantage of substantial resources to begin the process of finding the answers to those urgent questions cited above. The Sourcebook in essence could be a tool to move character educators to a deeper understanding of the overall process of planning, implementing, evaluating and sustaining a character education initiative. It could also provide well-developed materials and strategies for implementing specific work in any of the eleven principles. This seemed to be the logical “next step” to take in New Jersey.
In July of 2004, NJCCE hosted a 1-day CEP Eleven Principles Sourcebook Institute at Rutgers University. As a result, in 2005, NJDOE asked the NJCCE to develop the capacity to provide CEP’s Eleven Principles Sourcebook training to all of New Jersey’s 600+ district character education coordinators. The three main goals were:
To provide a professional development training consistent with the Eleven Principles that NJDOE and NJCCE had been using as the standard for the field since 1996,
To provide uniform standards and a common language for all character education coordinators throughout NJ,
To support educators with practical knowledge, strategies and tools for incorporating the Eleven Principles into their annual plans and moving their character education work to the next level.
In cooperation with NJDOE, NJCCE scheduled eight regional Eleven Principles Sourcebook trainings, four in fall 2005, and four in spring 2006. Six trainings were offered to district-designated character education coordinators and two were open to all New Jersey educators. Participants registered online through the NJDOE Professional Development and Technical Assistance Web site. Each training was six hours long and was delivered to groups of 50 people each.
The Eleven Principles agenda for the NJ Eleven Principles trainings includes:
Introduction to NJCCE and CEP
Introduction to the Eleven Principles framework
Showing the Sourcebook video, Character Education, Making a Difference
Activities that introduce and involve the participants in learning how to use the Sourcebook, including familiarization with the content and format
Foundational work addressing core ethical values
As this article goes to press, all but two of the scheduled trainings have been completed. NJCCE staff and trainers have had the opportunity to present the Eleven Principles Sourcebook to a broad audience, including participants from all levels of school and district administration, teachers and staff; from all grade levels, and schools of all sizes and demographics. Participant evaluations have indicated that many attendees found the Sourcebook to be a comprehensive and useful tool, valued for the guidance it provides on the process of planning, implementing and evaluating a character education process. Responses indicated that some intended to use the Sourcebook back in their districts to assist in staff development, and serve as a resource of useful ideas. Others reported that the activities conducted at the Sourcebook training gave them an understanding of how to use the Sourcebook to problem solve and assist in implementation. The Quality Standards, included in the Sourcebook, were also identified as a useful tool.
Challenges and Recommendations
One of the challenges that NJCCE has faced as the first CEP affiliate has been to understand the unique ways that the Eleven Principles Sourcebook can be most effectively used to support New Jersey character education coordinators and other educators who are charged with the important work of implementing quality programs. In an effort to address this challenge, the following questions have to be addressed:
What opportunities exist for strengthening and supporting school/district CE planning and implementation work through the use of the resources of the Eleven Principles Sourcebook, including the Quality Standards assessment tool?
Are there opportunities for developing better alignment of the state aid funding application and outcomes assessment processes with the Eleven Principles?
Given limited time and much content, what should the focus of the Sourcebook training be?
How does the Sourcebook training address the needs of the participants?
How can the time in the Sourcebook training be best spent, as a balance of didactic, observational, and experiential presentations, including how to provide an adequate foundational understanding of the Sourcebook upon which to build?
Based on feedback received from Sourcebook training participants, New Jersey CEP trainers, and discussions with NJDOE and NJCCE staff, the following recommendations represent current thinking about potential best practice:
Focus the Sourcebook trainings more on how to use the Sourcebook as a tool, including greater integration of the National Schools of Character examples.
Provide more time for participant networking, sharing best practices and cross-walking their own character education work to the Eleven Principles.
Support schools/districts with follow-up customized trainings for deeper, more specialized consultation, and process work (implementation and evaluation planning).
Even with New Jersey’s history with CE, connection with CEP as its first state affiliate site for educator training, and the resources provided for CE, it is clear that the potential of the Sourcebook has only begun to be fully explored. This is an important caveat for those attempting to use the Sourcebook without a well developed infrastructure, and also points out the importance of sharing implementation experiences with the Sourcebook as a way of accelerating the learning curve. Even at the individual school or district level, it is clear that a deep conceptual understanding of the 11 Principles and the importance of coordinated, coherent, integrative implementation of character education efforts on the part of a critical mass of staff, leadership, and stakeholders are essential for enduring success.
The Sourcebook as a Resource for Training Social-Emotional Learning Coordinators
The Sourcebook has also been used as a resource for training individuals around the coordination of social-emotional learning (SEL) and related initiatives within schools or districts. A significant difference between this application and those described previously is that the 11 Principles are not used as the framework for this training. Rather, the basis is SEL, which focuses on students’ social-emotional skills, such as self-awareness (including affect), social awareness (including empathy), self-management, relationship skills (including teamwork and leadership), and responsible decision making. These skills are combined with an emphasis on students’ approaching education with a sense of positive purpose, in the presence of a safe, supportive school climate that fosters a respectful, challenging, and engaging learning community. The Sourcebook is clearly relevant to this approach.
Developing Safe and Civil Schools (DSACS): A Social-Emotional Learning Initiative is funded by the NJDOE to take a complementary approach to providing SEL/CE coordination to schools, many of which have programs in place that do not derive from an 11 Principles framework. The concept behind the training is that many schools, and certainly most districts, are beset by fragmentation among their SEL and character education efforts. The net effect of this fragmentation is to reduce the effectiveness of each of the components in place, because they ultimately depend on coordination and synergy for impact and generalization to students’ behavior across school contexts and out of school.
The Sourcebook was integrated with other documents that have been developed to support school and district-wide implementation of SEL, Character Education, substance abuse and violence prevention, and related efforts. These documents and implementation approaches are compatible with the 11 Principles but can be used with other frameworks as well. Primary among those used by the DSACS Initiative are Safe and Sound (CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2003) and CASEL’s forthcoming Implementation Tool Kit (www.CASEL.org), Safe, Smart, and Successful Schools, Step by Step (Osher, Dwyer, & Jackson, 2003), The Educator’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement (Elias & Arnold, 2006), Building Learning Communities with Character (Novick, Kress, & Elias, 2002) and documents by Adelman and Taylor (2006) and Blankstein (2004). The focus on fragmentation, combined with pressures on schools for academic success and accountability, led to three Guidebooks being especially valuable to inform DSACS training procedures and materials.
Guidebook #3 focused on the need to develop a comprehensive approach and especially the integration of SEL/Character Education and academics. It speaks to the power of the hidden curriculum and how academic standards in many ways depend upon SEL/Character Education for their actualization. Many specific examples are provided so educators can see tangibly how academics and after school programming can be enhanced by SEL/CE without these being “add-ons.”
In the logic model for the DSACS initiative, academic success depends on schools being caring communities of learners. Clearly, this is an essential aspect of the effective implementation of any SEL or CE approach. Guidebook #4 contains numerous examples and tools identified through the NSOC process as having proven track records in creating caring school communities. These examples were integrated into the training program and Tool Kit for Initiating SEL Coordination created for SEL Coordinators to use back in their schools and districts following the training. Also worth noting is that the Sourcebook video has been extremely well received by workshop recipients as providing a clear and inspiring view of how schools can look, feel, and sound when they are functioning as caring, coordinated SEL schools of character. Further, Coordinators were trained and supported in making sure that among their first tasks, to show the value of SEL and CE approaches, was to encourage sound strategies for creating community and using SEL pedagogy to help with academics.
Because evaluation is viewed by the DSACS Initiative as an ethical imperative, much was learned from Guidebook #11. In this case, the Guidebook guided the DSACS Team in developing an evaluation approach that included assessment of climate and engagement as reported by students and staff, and the gathering of data on prosocial and problem behaviors already collected by schools and districts (for which the CASEL Tool Kit and the Osher et al. volume were also especially helpful). The resources and web sites cited in the Guidebook were excellent starting points for designing an evaluation strategy. Any school or district interested in creating an evaluation plan will find Guidebook #11 informative and useful for that purpose; similarly, valuable guidance is given for selecting an outside evaluator, for settings where adequate internal resources do not exist.
Conclusions
The Sourcebook is an indispensable tool for those seeking to implement high quality character education, social-emotional learning, and related programs in schools, as well as those who seek to transform their schools into places where character is built as part of the goal of preparing students for success in school and life. That said, like the other tool kits and resource materials mentioned herein, its very richness poses challenges for those seeking to use it with pressing needs and/or limited time, background, or support. In these cases, the value of the Sourcebook will depend in the ongoing implementation structure within which its use will take place or in which its tools will be embedded. The road from Sourcebook to action guide continues to be operator dependent, with its potential depending fully on the skills, energy, understanding, and imagination of those who are charged with walking the talk (Elias, Zins, Greenberg, Graczyk, & Weissberg, 2003).
