Our Centers for Ethics:
Links for character education
Categories on this page:
- Regional CHARACTER COUNTS! sites
- Groups focusing on character education and youth development
- Groups focusing on citizenship and community building
- Groups focusing on respect for cultural diversity
- Links related to service learning
- Useful sites for character educators
Regional CHARACTER COUNTS! sites
- CC! in Bloomingdale (IL)
- CC! in Bartlett (IL)
- CC! in Chaves County (NM)
- CC! in Humphreys County (TN)
- CC! in Jacksonville (FL)
- CC! of Knoxville / Knox County (TN)
- Knoxville (TN) Bar Association
- Lisle Teens With Character (IL)
- CC! of Martin County (FL)
- Mesilla Valley (NM) CC! Task Force
- CC! and Michigan 4-H Programs
- CC! Mid Shore, Inc. (MD)
- CC! in Stow-Munroe Falls (OH)
- Sigma Nu Fraternity CC!
- Animated Six Pillars of Character (a Shockwave file created by a student in Arp, TX)
Groups focusing on character education and youth development
(These organizations are not necessarily affiliated with or endorsed by CHARACTER COUNTS! — but many of them are doing terrific work!)
- Association for Moral Education
- The Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University
- Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character at Boston University
- Center for Character Development at Anderson University
- Centre for Character Education at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore
- Center for the Study of Values in College Student Development (CollegeValues.org)
- Character Building Concepts
- Character Development Center, University of San Diego
- Character Development & Leadership
- Character Education Institute at California University
- Character Education Programme of New Zealand (CEPNZ)
- Children Now
- Children's Defense Fund
- Children's Partnership
- Choice Skills
- The Content of Our Character: Voices of Generation X
- Eckerd Youth Alternatives
- Ethics Resource Center
- The Future of Children
- Giraffe Project
- Institute for Character Development, Drake University
- Institute for Global Ethics
- Institute for Youth Development
- International Youth Foundation
- Kenan Ethics Program, Duke University
- Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University - K-12 Character Education
- National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
- National Character Education Center
- National Mentoring Partnership
- New Zealand Foundation for Character Education Inc.
- Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
- The Responsive Classroom
- Safe Schools Coalition, Inc.
- The School for Ethical Education
- Search Institute
- Stand for Children
- Teaching Virtues
- Tutor / Mentor Connection
- YouthLeadership.com
Groups focusing on citizenship and community building
(These organizations are not necessarily affiliated with or endorsed by CHARACTER COUNTS! — but many of them are doing terrific work!)
- Center for Civic Participation - Idealist on Campus
- Celebration USA
- Center for Civic Education
- Close Up Foundation
- Community Building Resource Exchange
- Connect for Kids
- Do Something
- Institute for the Study of Civic Values
- National Civic League
- National Community Education Association
- National Network for Youth
- Patriot Challenge
- Pew Partnership for Civic Change
- Prudential Spirit of Community Initiative
- Youth Activism Project
- YouthLink
Groups focusing on respect for cultural diversity
(These organizations are not necessarily affiliated with or endorsed by CHARACTER COUNTS! — but many of them are doing terrific work!)
- Artists Against Racism: a nonprofit group of musicians, actors and other artists working "to prevent youths from adopting prejudiced attitudes"
- BiasHELP: a group dedicated "to preventing, monitoring and lessening the effects of bias crimes and hate-related harassment"
- coAction Connection: a group of "diversity educators" seeking to combat racism with training workshops and publications
- DiversityWeb: an initiative that provides diversity resources to colleges and universities
- Reaching Out: a website based on the "Reaching Out" PBS television series that focuses on racial bridge-building
- Teaching Tolerance: a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center that offers free materials to schools
- YouthWEB Online: a site for youth and adults with information about hate crimes, school violence and discrimination
Links related to service learning
(These organizations are not necessarily affiliated with or endorsed by CHARACTER COUNTS! — but many of them are doing terrific work!)
- American Youth Policy Form (AYPF)
- The Big Dummy's Guide to Service-Learning
- The Corporation for National & Community Service (CNS)
- National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
- National Youth Leadership Council
- RMC Research Corporation
- Student Leadership Involvement and Community Engagement (Slice), Colorado State University
- Service Learning, University of Colorado
- State Education Agency Network (SEAnet)
- Students in Service to America (guidebook and CD-ROM)
- Unity in the Spirit of America (Points of Light Foundation)
Useful sites for character educators
(These organizations are not necessarily affiliated with or endorsed by CHARACTER COUNTS! — but many of them are doing terrific work!)
- Accent on Success is a St. Louis-based nonprofit that helps parents and educators teach children life skills. The site offers information and excerpts from student and teacher editions of the book Goal Setting for Students.
- Aesop's Fables is a collection of over 600 fables, some of which are available as RealAudio files.
- Baby Think It Over aims to help prevent unplanned pregnancies by helping teens understand consequences and parental obligations before they are faced with the responsibility of caring for kids.
- BreakingRanks.net: This site is about treating all people with dignity and respect. The focus is on combating "rankism" - the abuse of one's rank or power to demean others.
- Building Blocks for a Healthy Future is the Internet's first early childhood substance abuse prevention resource. Designed for parents and caregivers of children ages 3 to 6, Building Blocks will help open up the lines of communication with young children and make it easier to keep those lines of communication open as they grow older.
- Center for Character Development at Lubbock Christian University (Lubbock, TX) has a colorful site with animated greeting cards and activities for teaching the Six Pillars of Character.
- The Center for Civic Education's lesson plans are available online.
- "Character Education: Developing Effective Programs" is an article that appeared in the April 1998 issue of the Journal of Extension.
- Character Kids is a collection of character education resources, coinciding with Songs 4 Teachers, which includes the Character Kids E-Book of songs and poems.
- Chivalry Today includes sample class projects along with information on materials for sale.
- An Ethical Will: Grandpa Teaches Values is a book of parables in which a grandfather discusses ethics with his grandchildren. It explores how one might write a "will" outlining an inheritance of values to pass on to children and grandchildren.
- The Future of Children is a journal focusing on various issues related to children's well-being.
- Group-Games.com is a collection of group activities, many of which could be adapted as character-building exercises.
- The Guidance Channel is a monthly online magazine that serves as a portal for educators, administrators and those working with youth. The site offers links and articles on such subjects as at-risk youth, diversity and service learning.
- Integrity Matters is a video series designed to help young people learn about core ethical values.
- It's a Habit Company, Inc. offers books and assemblies focused on helping kids learn financial responsibility - to get in the habit of saving money.
- KellyBear.com presents videos, books and other materials featuring Kelly Bear, a children's character that teaches social skills and lessons about character. The site offers activities for teachers and parents, plus articles by Leah Davies, a teacher, child psychologist and the author of the Kelly Bear series.
- Kids Can Do It offers kids the chance to read a story about making good decisions or submit a story of their own. Parents and teachers can buy books that present problem situations and challenge kids to answer, "What Would You Do?"
- Kids Emotions allows kids to take a free online quiz about how they handle different feelings. Based on the answers, the site generates a profile of their emotional health. The profile is useful to parents as assessment of how the child controls feelings like anger and envy.
- KidsPeace is a private, not-for-profit charity dedicated to serving the critical behavioral and mental health needs of children, preadolescents and teens.
- Legacy Educational Resources offers stories, illustrations, film clips, activities, lesson plans and articles to help learn about and teach good character.
- Making Hearts Sing is a collection of fables that teach universal moral lessons. The stories are from China, Japan, Korea, Russia and France.
- The Men They Will Become: the Nature and Nurture of Male Character, by Harvard pediatrician Eli Newberger examines boys' moral development from cradle to college, combining child-development research with anecdotes about and interviews from boys he has worked with. Dr. Newberger's website offers these excerpts from his book: Discipline and Punishment (chap. 6) and Early Adolescence (chap. 14).
- Musicians United for Songs In the Classroom, (M.U.S.I.C.) is a nonprofit organization promoting the interdisciplinary use of popular music in education. The website includes "classroom strategies" and a directory of over 2,500 songs.
- National Association for Humane and Environmental Education is the youth education affiliate of the Humane Society. They offer teaching materials, award programs and professional development workshops centered around helping children become humane and caring individuals.
- The Peace Rug provides a special place for respectful interaction and conflict resolution among children. The 3' x 5' rug, instructional brochure and audiotape are available for purchase online.
- Play It Cyber Safe offers educational games for kids and resources for parents and teachers on the proper use of the Internet and computers, including a curriculum on cyber-ethics co-developed by Weekly Reader..
- Project Love "develops training programs to empower teens to spread kindness, caring and mutual respect through positive role modeling, service projects and leadership."
- Project Wisdom provides schools with inspirational quotes (to be read over the intercom) to help students develop ethical values. Samples are available online.
- Puppet Outfitters offers puppetry supplies, as well as live stage performance programs teaching students in Central Minnesota about the Six Pillars of Character.
- Smart & Good High Schools is a site created and maintained by the Center for the 4th and 5th Rs (Respect and Reponsibility). Their report, Smart & Good High Schools: Integrating Excellence and Ethics for Success in School, Work, and Beyond, is available there.
- Studies in Moral Development and Education, a program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, posts information on character education, plus links to scholarly articles.
- Teens in Trouble: A Survival Page for Parents is useful to anyone working with youth, with links to hotlines and other helpful sites, and information about substance abuse, learning and emotional disorders, suicide and "teen culture."
- That's the Ticket! is a game parents play with their children to teach them about responsibility and self-discipline.
- A Vision in Motion is a bureau of motivational speakers who have overcome tremendous personal adversities and now inspire and positively influence others.
- A World of Prevention, administered by the Texas Youth Commission, is a directory of programs, research, references and resources dedicated to the prevention of child and adolescent problems and the promotion of youth development in families, schools and communities.
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