K-5 Character Education

WHAT IS CHARACTER EDUCATION?

Character education is an educational movement that supports the social, emotional and ethical development of students. It is the proactive effort by schools to help students develop important core, ethical and performance values such as caring, honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect for self, others, and country. Character education provides long-term solutions to moral, ethical, and academic issues that are of growing concern in our society and our schools. Character education teaches students how to be their best selves and how to do their best work while also facilitating positive school culture and climate transformation.

How does PHES implement character education?
Each day students will participate in Character Education in the classroom. During this time, teachers will focus on character education, bullying prevention, and teaching students the skills they need to be successful.

Who teaches character education?
Every adult in the school is a character educator by virtue of interaction with students. The classroom teachers, principal, master teachers, and school counselor all have a part in facilitating lessons to students regarding character traits.

Why teach Character in the classroom?
The social, emotional and ethical development of young people is just as important as their academic development. Character Education is infused into school curricula to support academic achievement, improve behavior, school culture, and peer interaction. Research suggests that schools who implement character education programs observe dramatic transformations: pro-social behaviors such as cooperation, respect, and compassion are replacing negative behaviors such as violence, disrespect, apathy, and underachievement. And when these positive attitudes and behaviors are present, students are better able to commit themselves to their work, which paves the way for perseverance, diligence, and ultimately, increased academic achievement.