An assessment of teacher perceptions of attitudes toward character education

File(s)
Date
2002Author
Bever, Julie A.
Publisher
University of Wisconsin--Stout
Department
Guidance and Counseling
Advisor(s)
Cruz, Hector
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Character education means many things to different people. Thomas Lickona, a founder in the current character education movement, in believes it is essentially respect and responsibility. The California State School Board Association believes character education is 28 different characteristics. The researcher felt that both of these numbers were rather extreme. Character Counts! Coalition addresses six main character traits for character education. These are as follows: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. The following character traits have subcategories as listed: trustworthiness (honesty, integrity, reliability, and loyalty), and responsibility (accountability, pursuit of excellence, and self-control.) The survey was a modified from a version used by University of Wisconsin-Stout graduate student Rob Ocker' s thesis. The title of his thesis was "An assessment of parental and staff attitudes toward character education at Roosevelt Elementary School." However, due to the varied degrees of character education, the survey was changed to reflect the Character Counts! Coalition character traits. This survey asks three main questions of the respondents. First, is this important for Unity School District? Second, should this be part of the curriculum at each grade level? Third, is this now a part of your classroom curriculum? If it is, how are you using it? These three questions are asked in two distinct areas. Foremost, each question is asked about the idea of the three questions about each individual character traits. The final piece of the survey character education. The next portion of the survey asks for examples and comments about the character traits used in each participant's classroom. The appropriate data analysis will be done using frequencies and percentages to interpret the responses and look for trends in the results. The content of the comments and examples sections will be analyzed for themes and summarized in the findings. This study examines teacher attitudes toward and perceptions of character education. This research will occur in Spring 2002 semester. Data will be collected through a survey given to the teachers of Unity School District. All teachers will be invited to participate in the study. The participants will be informed verbally of the nature and purpose of the study. They will also be verbally informed of the voluntary nature of the study. This information will also be available on the letter to the respondents. Participants will also be given the opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns with the researcher prior to participating. The understanding of teachers' attitudes towards and perceptions of character education is essential to effective and useful character education. This research hopes to determine current practices in regards to character education. Based on the research findings, the researcher hopes to develop recommendations for the school district to facilitate a better understanding of character education. Within this framework, teachers and students within the Unity School District will benefit.
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/40283Type
Thesis
Description
Plan B