A study of character education programs in Connecticut public elementary schools based on the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education

This is a study of character education programs in Connecticut Public Elementary Schools based on the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education by the Character Education Partnership. This study has utilized a qualitative and quantitative approach comparing school's self reports by staff members and observer's site visits. The Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education scores were analyzed, using SSPS 10, to determine whether differences existed between groups of schools based on Educational Reference Groups and scores of administrators, counselors and teachers.; This study showed that 78% of Connecticut public elementary schools that participated in this study reported moderate character education implementation. There was no overall difference between administrators, counselors and teachers when comparing scores from the Eleven Principles Instrument. Significant differences do exist in the mean Eleven Principles score of schools in different Educational Reference Groups. These differences did not appear to have anything to do with being economically advantaged or disadvantaged. Based on the available data no conclusive answers can be determined from the information gathered.; Site visits to nine schools showed that self reports of five schools were higher than the observer's report while four school's reports were in agreement with the site visitor. There appeared shared similarities between schools that had character education programs. There was a sense of a caring community in these buildings. One of the ways this sense of community was reflected was during the interview process. Character education buildings used "we" statements, rather than the "I" statements in the non character education buildings. The site visits were helpful to determine the difference between actual character education implementation and perceptions of what an educator considered to be character education implementation. Recommendations for future studies of character education implementation in Connecticut are included.