What Works In Character Education

Despite the rapidly growing interest in and implementation of character education, broadly defined, there is no extensive review of the research base for effective practice. With federal, state, and local governments investing heavily in educational practices intended to foster the development of character in pre-K-12 grade students, it is imperative that theorists, curriculum developers, educators, teachers, and researchers know if character education achieves its goals, and if so what it achieves and how. Toward this end, a review of existing research was conducted to answer these three questions. Thirty-three effective programs were identified and the 64 empirical studies plus 5 meta-analyses and literature reviews of those programs were examined to identify the most common effects of such educational interventions and the most common shared practices of those programs. Character education can work when implemented with fidelity and broadly, and has a very robust impact. Effective character education tends to include: professional development; student interactive pedagogical strategies; an explicit focus on character/ethics; direct training of social and emotional competencies; modeling of character; aligned classroom/behavior management strategies; and community service and/or service learning. Finally, suggestions are offered for future research based on what is and is not currently known about effective practice in character education.