Dr. Card's article provides useful and clear standards for determining what good measurement is, identifies important problems in the measurement of constructs important to character education, and provides clear guidance about measurement development. In this article, I raise 4 points that build on Dr. Card's work. First, advancing assessment in…

In this article I provide an overview of the methodological issues involved in measuring constructs relevant to character development and education. I begin with a nontechnical overview of the 3 fundamental psychometric properties of measurement: reliability, validity, and equivalence. Developing and evaluating measures to ensure evidence of all 3…

In this article, I respond to Noel Card's "Methodological Issues in Measuring the Development of Character." I focus on the ways in which social scientific knowledge represents human constructions of the world and the implications of this stance for the measurement of character. Further, I consider how context influences those…

St. HOPE (Helping Others Pursue Excellence) has embraced the character education movement and worked tirelessly to become a National School of Character. There is a commitment to relevant, student-driven service learning that develops every facet of their scholars' burgeoning identities, experiences that truly cultivate the whole child. St. HOPE…

This article describes the character education program in Donald Stewart School No. 51, in Elizabeth, NJ, a dual-language preschool serving 300 students that first opened its doors in 2004. Over the years this school has been committed to laying the foundation of character development with its preschoolers. Their pillar "Friends Care, Friends…

As the United States has struggled to answer the question of what education for the 21st century must look like, most states have now responded by signing onto the Common Core Standards. Drawn from lessons learned from a generation of standards-based education and research on what high-performing countries do to enable young people to prosper, it…

The current pedagogy in creating a positive school climate is building personal relationships with students. Teachers and students work together to create a safe environment where students engage in the academic pursuit of knowledge. Service-learning projects that create this close bond and offer a collective pursuit of helping others give…

Valley Park Middle School (VPMS) in Valley Park, MO, has the unique designation of being a not-so-secret gem in St. Louis County. The middle school shares its campus with the elementary and high school, creating opportunities to collaborate and work together to build a school district that not only shines academically, but also focuses on…

Norwood Elementary, a Title I science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) school in Baltimore County, MD, recently realized that traditional behavior management programs and processes were not working with their students. Over time, school administrators discovered more successful approaches, and restorative practices became the way to…

This is a case study in which the Character Development and Leadership Program replaced an alternative high school's traditional English language offerings. A triangulated case study used student records, field notes, and interviews of stakeholders to compare the academic year prior to this substitution and the 2 academic years following it. All 3…

Principal leadership is crucial to the success of a high school character education initiative. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research was to identify the roles that high school principals play in developing, implementing, and sustaining a high functioning character education program. Data were collected through interviews and…

Character strengths support academic learning and can and should be incorporated into all content areas. This article articulates ways character strengths, including self-efficacy, positive-attitude, perseverance, growth-mindset, intrinsic motivation, intellectual carefulness, and courage specifically support mathematics education (K-8) and can…

Cheating is highly prevalent in American high school students and across the globe. Although numerous approaches are in place to combat this issue, most character education approaches have focused primarily on fostering moral integrity (a strength of moral character). Here, we argue that a broad character education approach to addressing cheating…

Conceptualizing character from a relational developmental systems metatheory, this study utilizes a person- oriented approach to examine profiles of character strengths in children and adolescents. Using Q sort methodology, 90 youth (Mage = 13.0, 51% female) sorted 12 character strengths based on how much each strength represented them. Using Q…

This article presents outcomes of two studies examining the impact of preservice teachers' preparation on their practice, knowledge, and self-efficacy for supporting students' social and moral development and conducting moral education in the classroom. The studies centered on the Developmental Teacher Education program at the University of…