Background
New Jersey has made an unparalleled commitment to support character education
programs in its public schools.
Ninety-nine percent of public school districts have initiated
character education programs with the help of $4.75 million in designated
state aid to school districts in each year from FY2001-2004.
The main vehicle through which character education programs and
services are delivered in New
Jersey schools is the New Jersey Character
Education Partnership (NJCEP) Initiative, administered by the NJ
Department of Education (NJDOE). There
have been three Outcome
Reports documenting student, school staff and parents served by the
Initiative. These documents include
evaluative information from selected school district reports.
The purpose of this initiative is to assist public school educators
throughout New Jersey
to adopt high quality character education programs that meet the
developmental needs of students by promoting pro-social student behaviors
and creating a caring, disciplined school climate conducive to
learning. The New Jersey Center
for Character Education (NJCCE) works with the NJDOE to support
implementation of the NJCEP Initiative.
LEA Demonstration Sites
Ten collaborating Local Education Agency (LEA) Partners
representing the diversity of New
Jersey schools, students and experiences with
school reform efforts have been selected competitively by the NJDOE to
serve as the focus of intensive Character Education program development and
evaluation efforts. With assistance
from the New Jersey
Center for Character
Education, the partners also serve as best practice demonstration sites, assisting
with professional development and dissemination activities.
LEA Character Education Stories
Each of the ten LEA partners has a unique story to tell about its
journey toward becoming a Character Education Demonstration Site. You can visit the sites below to see how
their Character Education programs took shape, how they established a
framework of core ethical values and integrated them into the culture and
curriculum of their schools. Meet
the Character Education Coordinators and their school and community
stakeholders. Learn how they worked
together to set their program goals and objectives, how they are
implementing research-based programs and how they are evaluating program
outcomes. Many of the Demonstration
Sites share resources that they have developed as well as provide links to
other sources of information such as their program providers’
websites. You may also have an
opportunity to contact them for more information.
