11 Principles of Effective Character Education
1. Character education promotes core ethical values as the basis of good
character.
2. “Character” must be comprehensively defined to include thinking,
feeling, and behavior.
3. Effective character education requires an intentional, proactive, and
comprehensive approach that promotes the core values in all phases of
school life.
4. The school must be a caring community.
5. To develop character, students need opportunities for moral action.
6. Effective character education includes a meaningful and challenging
academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.
7. Character education should strive to develop students’ intrinsic
motivation.
8. 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.
9. Character education requires moral leadership from both staff and
students.
10. The school must recruit parents and community members as full partners
in the character-building effort.
11. 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.
– Character Education Partnership