"Schools committed to character education, ..."

must;

1. Define core ethical values in terms of observable behaviors and hold all school members accountable to standards of conduct consistent with those behaviors
2. Help members of the school community recognize, value, and act upon core ethical values.
3. Integrate character development into all aspects of school life and deliberately plan ways to Imbue every area of the school environment -- including the classroom, the cafeteria, the hallways, and the playground -- with evidence of core ethical values.
4. Provide students with real-life challenges to help them develop a practical understanding of the moral requirements of the core ethical values.
5. Provide a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.
6. Develop students' intrinsic commitment both to core values and to the academic curriculum.
7. Involve all school staff in modeling and promoting core ethical values, and provide staff with the same opportunities for personal and academic growth afforded students.
8. Require strong moral leadership from both staff and students.
9. Recruit the help of parents and community business, religious, government, and media.
10. Continuously assess the progress of character education by evaluating the character of the school, the character of the students, and the success of the staff as character educators.

Dr. Thomas Lickona

"There is no such thing as ...value-free education.
Schools teach values every day, by design or default.
When schools do not teach values,
they are teaching that values are not important."