| Due to the societal and governmental demands on education, character education, one of the nation's oldest education initiatives, has found major emphasis in education reform as a means of addressing the ethical crisis of the greater society. Numerous states have promoted character education initiatives including Texas, which recognizes Character Plus schools each year. This study examines the practices, extent of program use, nature of character education programs, and the leadership of the principal in recognized Character Plus schools at the middle level from the opinions of the principal.; A survey was sent to middle level principals of Texas Character Plus schools recognized as such for 3 or 4 years. The survey asked principals to identify their demographics, school's demographics, extent of program use, and Likert-type questions on the importance level and level of implementation at their schools. The principals were also asked to respond to several open-ended questions. The data from the surveys were analyzed with frequencies, regression analysis, and Pearson correlation.; The results from the analysis showed that a majority of the principals (88%) believed that it is the public school's responsibility to teach students good character traits. Even though principals expected student outcomes from program use, few had written formal outcomes policy (18%) or conducted a program evaluation of any type (40%). Professional development in the area of character education is usually not an on-going process.; The level of character education implementation did vary by number of single-parent homes and the educational administrative experience of the principal. The level of importance placed on character education by the principal varied by the ethnicity of the school's student population. The principals perceived character education to be effective through improved student behavior and improved school climate. Additionally, the analysis revealed there was no statistically significant relationship between the level of importance placed on character education by the principal and the level of character education implementation. The study concluded with recommendations of application and suggestions for further research. |
