The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to examine if there is a significant difference in mean moral judgment levels of first year undergraduate students after participating in a character development program at a non-traditional program in a university in the southwestern United States. This study included new non-traditional…

This article summarizes issues in defining character education (CE) that are relevant to program development and evaluation. No authoritative definition exists for CE, but several features seem prominent. These include a focus on enhancing civic, moral, self-regulatory, and/or intellectual virtues; and (at least implicitly) prioritizing the…

In this article, we present a reconceptualization of sport as a series of collaborative contests with players on different teams scoring goals cooperatively: players on both sides lose or both sides win together depending on whether they can improve the scores they earn in overcoming limitations and obstacles by working with the other team. When…

Character education is considered important as it will cause moral degradation when it is not appropriately taught to the students in school. This study aims to investigate the character education program in Indonesia, particularly at the secondary school level. This study utilized a descriptive method with a qualitative approach. To obtain the…

Since independence in 1963, the government of Kenya through the education ministry and its agencies has been advocating for the integrated and permeation approaches to values education (VE). This is premised on the assumption that these approaches are effectual. With reference to the secondary school Life Skills Education (LSE) programme, the…

Although experts agree that diverse stakeholder inclusion enhances quality and equity in evaluation designs and implementation, diverse voices are often omitted. Particularly antithetical to principles of youth character development, evaluations for these programs should strive to include voices from various social, economic, community, and…

This paper responds to Berkowitz, Bier, and McCauley's description of effective features and practices that support character development by pushing on the question of "how" child and youth environments might "build character." Acknowledging the challenges of drawing on program evaluations and extant studies of character…

Background/purpose: This study investigates the integration of Islamic values into the general curriculum at SMP Unismuh Makassar, addressing the evolving educational need that combines academic excellence with spiritual and moral development. Using the Stake Countenance Model, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this integration in…

The benefits of positive education initiatives are well understood in educational settings but less is known about how positive education can support remote communities to embrace change and become more resilient. This paper draws on the findings from an evaluative study of the Foundations to Flourish (F2F), a positive education programme,…

The mixed methods study examined the impact of "Leader in Me" effects on math achievement in Grades 4 and 5. The problem this study addressed is underachieving mathematical achievement in a suburban school district when compared to the state assessment. "'Leader in Me' helps students learn how to become self-reliant, take…

The Global Resilience Oral Workshops (GROW) Free and Strong programs take a strengths-based, positive youth development (PYD) approach to promoting thriving. Through both prevention (GROW Strong) and intervention (GROW Free) exercises, these programs aim to build character and emotional resilience while also lowering unhealthy alcohol use. To…

Background: The goal of the study was to develop and verify a pathway model (or theory of change) for STEM Scouts, an out-of-school time (OST), positive youth development program for elementary through high school-aged youth. Pathway models include connections between hypothesized activities to short-, mid-, and long-term outcomes. STEM Scouts is…

In this study, we investigate how the stakeholders of one college of education in a public university integrated a framework of character education into its institutional culture. Building on the notions of sensemaking and sensegiving, we found that the college's character education initiative followed a five-part sequence of sensemaking and…

School systems have the responsibility to promote student success and character education is one program used to help improve school climate. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the implementation of a school developed character education program and student perceptions of school climate in a city elementary…

Purpose: The article discusses Outward Bound's participation in the human potential movement through its incorporation of T-group practices and the reform language of experiential education in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Design/methodology/approach: The article reports on original research conducted using materials from Dartmouth College and…