Taking Steps Toward Character Education
We often describe the road to character as a journey. For our teachers designing curricula to promote character growth in their students, this journey has been years in the making. Most schools recognize the importance of enhancing knowledge with character competencies, mindsets, and abilities. However, few if any move from intent to a deliberate, systematic, and evidence-based way of assessing character development. In partnership with the Centre for Curriculum Redesign (CCR), Crescent school is doing just that. On January 6, Crescent welcomed CCR’s Robbie Taylor for a full day of professional development to advance this initiative.
At the root of this work is Crescent’s Portrait of a Graduate, which outlines the knowledge, skills and character strengths the school believes graduates need to achieve future success, well-being and purpose in their careers, community and family lives. “Our Portrait establishes a common understanding of what Crescent means by a man of character,” says Dr. Sandra Boyes, Executive Director of Professional Learning and Research and Crescent Centre for Boys' Education. “We differentiate between moral, performance, and civic character using our guiding questions ‘Who am I,’ ‘How do I lead,’ and ‘What is my legacy?’”
The Professional Learning Day gave faculty and staff the opportunity to engage with two new tools in Crescent’s character toolkit: the Character Card web portal and Character Growth Pathways. The Character Cards define the twelve character qualities of our Portrait of a Graduate and distinguish three sub-qualities for each. This precise common language is essential for meaningful teaching and offers tangible ways for students to demonstrate proficiency in a competency.
The Growth Pathways, which are currently in beta testing, serve as a framework to facilitate conversations among educators, students, parents, coaches, co-curricular leads, and more, about what it means to effectively demonstrate a particular character quality. The pathways represent a continuum that can span a person’s lifetime, recognizing that no one achieves mastery in all character qualities at all times. Factors such as sleep, hunger, or other physiological conditions can also influence performance in a given quality on a given day.
“We’re collectively assessing our work and evaluating whether the language is age- and stage-appropriate,” says Boyes. Divisional teams, subject heads, curriculum leaders, and individual teachers met with Taylor to discuss their feedback on this process and plan the next steps. “We also began considering what the first year of implementing the intent to evidence phase would look like,” Boyes adds. “The purpose of this professional learning partnership has been to create a tool tailored specifically for Crescent, building on the work done by CCR.”
Reflecting on the work ahead, Boyes feels energized. “Imagine the impact on a boy's life if we infuse them with these twelve character qualities and a structured understanding of the growth journey related to each quality,” she says. “As a school community, these are the character qualities that we value. We’re providing our boys, even from their earliest years, an opportunity to grow into thoughtful individuals.”
