Student Well-Being

Politicians Stand Up For Character Education Measures

By Erik W. Robelen — March 21, 2001 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

When Secretary of Education Rod Paige was asked about the fatal shootings this month at Santana High School in California, he named character education as one approach that might help avert such incidents.

“Under the president’s plan, there is going to be an increase in character education in our schools,” he said in a March 11 interview on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.”

“That is going to make a big difference,” the secretary said.

Mr. Paige was picking up on a theme President Bush has emphasized since early in his campaign for the White House. The president wants to triple federal funding for character education, which seeks to foster moral character and civic virtue in young people, to about $25 million a year.

Mr. Bush is sure to find some sympathy for his plans on Capitol Hill. Two bipartisan bills have been introduced in the House to bolster character education, with another in the Senate.

“Our schools may be built with the bricks of English, math, and science, but character education certainly is the mortar,” Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said last month in support of a bill he has co-sponsored with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M, the chairman of the Budget Committee.

The existing federal initiative, called the Partnerships in Character Education Pilot Projects Program, was created in 1994 as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Under that program, the Department of Education issued about $36 million in grants to 37 states through fiscal 2000, according to David Thomas, a department spokesman. Another $8 million will be spent for that purpose this fiscal year.

States that receive the grants are expected to form partnerships with school districts to set up character education programs. The money is used to prepare curriculum materials, provide teacher training, gauge and build community consensus on values, and help integrate character education into the broader curriculum.

More Research Sought

The Senate legislation, S 311, would quintuple the annual authorization level for such grants, from $10 million to $50 million. In addition, up to 5 percent of the money would be set aside for research and to disseminate information about character education.

Christopher J. Dodd

While supporters are encouraged by the bipartisan backing for including such legislation in the ESEA bill Congress is hoping to finish this year, that inclusion is not a sure thing.

Lawmakers also appear intent on consolidating many federal education programs into a smaller set of more flexible initiatives. The Senate education committee approved an ESEA bill this month that did just that, excluding the character education proposal. The bill would, however, authorize a general $50 million fund that could be spent on character education, among a host of other purposes.

Sens. Domenici and Dodd intend to offer their proposal as an amendment when the bill reaches the Senate floor. Meanwhile, a working draft of the ESEA reauthorization put together by Republicans on the House education committee contains provisions for character education.

Diane G. Berreth, the deputy executive director of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, based in Alexandria, Va., suggests that the federal government can play several important roles in character education, from providing seed money for programs to supporting research and even funding a national clearinghouse. She noted that another vital role doesn’t cost a dime: the bully pulpit.

Secretary Rod Paige

And in that regard, she said she was pleased to hear the new president and his education secretary stress that character education belongs in schools. “Helping Americans engage in the dialogue ... is a significant commitment in and of itself,” she said.

While she is encouraged by the proposed legislation, Ms. Berreth added, she believes it should not spell out the specific character traits that schools should try to foster. The Senate bill, echoing existing law, would require that programs emphasize caring, civic virtue and citizenship, justice and fairness, respect, responsibility, and trustworthiness. Other character traits could be added at the discretion of grant recipients.

“I recommend that the selection of core moral values be a local process rather than specified in federal legislation,” Ms. Berreth said.

Patricia J. Harned, the director of character development for the Washington-based Ethics Resource Center, said the research part of legislation in both the House and Senate would help fill a void.

“So far, no one has made any effort to figure out how many schools are really doing this,” she said. “And what are they doing, and what are they finding.”

Andrea L. Grenadier, the director of communications for the Character Education Partnership, a nonpartisan Washington coalition of organizations and individuals, said she was pleased with the growing interest in character education, not just from politicians, but also from parents and educators.

“If anything, our time has really come,” she said.

But she also cautioned that when people talk about character education, they often can mean very different things. “I think it can be a double-edged sword,” Ms. Grenadier said, suggesting that words such as “morals” have become loaded terms.

“What we’re talking about is nonpartisan and nonsectarian,” she said. “I’m not quite sure I know what [the president] means.”

A version of this article appeared in the March 21, 2001 edition of Education Week as Politicians Stand Up For Character Education Measures

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Achievement Webinar
Student Success Strategies: Flexibility, Recovery & More
Join us for Student Success Strategies to explore flexibility, credit recovery & more. Learn how districts keep students on track.
Content provided by Pearson
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Shaping the Future of AI in Education: A Panel for K-12 Leaders
Join K-12 leaders to explore AI’s impact on education today, future opportunities, and how to responsibly implement it in your school.
Content provided by Otus
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum Learning Interventions That Work
Join this free virtual event to explore best practices in academic interventions and how to know whether they are making a difference.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being Measles Is on the Rise as Vaccinations Drop. Where Does That Leave Schools?
With an outbreak in West Texas, are the conditions ripe for more measles outbreaks elsewhere?
6 min read
Tight cropped photograph of a doctor wearing gloves and filling a syringe with medicine from vial.
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being Are Today's Students Less Independent? Depends on Who You Ask
Most teachers say students' declining ability to direct their own learning and advocate for themselves hurts academic achievement.
3 min read
Illustration of young school kids with backpacks climbing up and peaking out of the sides of a large question mark in the ground.
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being Download How Absences Affect Everyone in the Classroom (DOWNLOADABLE)
Chronic absenteeism affects the whole classroom environment. Here's how.
1 min read
Absentee learning concept. Teenagers with different skin colors. Flat vector cartoon illustration.
Liz Yap/Education Week + Getty
Student Well-Being 3 Tips for Building Independent Thinkers Who Can Manage Their Emotions
An educator and an expert discuss ways to strengthen students' social-emotional skills.
4 min read
Illustration of butterfly.
Anna Godeassi for Education Week