Character Education: A Case Study

A study explored the effectiveness of a Word of the Month program and its effects on student behavior in a small independent elementary private school in San Francisco. Participants included all the people from this small elementary school with a student population of 82. Through the use of John Heidel and Marion Lyman-Mersereau's curriculum, students throughout the school were introduced to one word a month that exemplified positive characteristics that the school hoped would develop within the student population. Effectiveness of this program was assessed through interviews with faculty from the school. The assessments looked for behavior changes in the students in relation to the words that were presented, such as "respect," and "responsibility. " It was hypothesized that the Word of the Month would have a positive effect in developing respectful and responsible behavior. Most teachers reported increases of "respectful " and "responsible " behavior after the implementation of the program. The teachers reported that they hoped the program would continue. Contains 22 references, and an appendix containing teachers ' responses. (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document