1995: Character education promotes core ethical values as the basis of good character.

2018: Core values are defined, implemented, and embedded in school culture.

1995: “Character” must be comprehensively defined to include thinking, feeling, and behavior.

2018: The school defines “character” comprehensively to include thinking, feeling, and doing

1995: Effective character education requires an intentional, proactive, and comprehensive approach that promotes the core values in all phases of school life.

2018: The school uses a comprehensive, intentional, and proactive approach to develop character.

1995: The school must be a caring community.

2018: The school creates a caring community.

1995: To develop character, students need opportunities for moral action.

2018: The school provides students with opportunities for moral action.

1995: Effective character education includes a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.

2018: The school offers a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners, develops their character, and helps them to succeed.

1995: Character education should strive to develop students’ intrinsic motivation.

2018: The school fosters students’ self-motivation.

1995: The school staff must become a learning and moral community in which all share responsibility for character education and attempt to adhere to the same core values that guide the education of students.

2018: All staff share the responsibility for developing, implementing, and modeling character.

1995: Character education requires moral leadership from both staff and students.

2018: Effective character education fosters shared moral leadership and long-range support of the character education initiative.

1995: The school must recruit parents and community members as full partners in the character-building effort.

2018: The school engages families and community as partners in the character initiative.

1995: Evaluation of character education should assess the character of the school, the school staff’s functioning as character educators, and the extent to which students manifest good character.

2018: The school assesses its implementation of character education, its culture and climate, and the character growth of students on a regular basis.