| The purpose of this study was to determine the role of school culture in the implementation of a character education program. Quantitative data were collected from 204 certified school personnel from ten elementary schools currently implementing the CharacterPlus character education program in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Follow-up, semi-structured interviews with five percent of the sample population provided qualitative data.; Pearson product-moment correlations were run between the six factors of school culture (collaborative leadership, teacher collaboration, professional development, unity of purpose, collegial support, and learning partnership), as measured by the School Culture Survey, and the ten factors of character education implementation (community participation, character education policy, defined traits, integrated curriculum, experiential learning, evaluation, adult role models, staff development, student leadership, and sustaining the program). Significant correlations were noted between all factors. The strongest school culture correlations were found in the factors of Learning Partnership, Unity of Purpose, and Collegial Support.; Backward elimination multiple regression were run on all ten character education implementation factors in order to determine whether predictive linear relationships existed between the factors of school culture and character education implementation. Strong predictive linear relationships were discovered between the school culture factors of Learning Partnership, Unity of Purpose, and Collaborative Leadership and the factors of character education implementation. Weak linear relationships were discovered with the school culture factors of Teacher Collaboration and Professional Development.; This study supported the notion that building a strong partnership with the stakeholders of a school and having a defined and focused vision and mission can help the implementation of a character education program. |
