| This study compares practices to foster good character values and forces that affect practices in schools of different governance types---parochial, traditional public, and charter---through content analyses of school documents and 45 interviews, across schools, of parents, teachers, school administrators, and student focus groups. Character is defined as that within the individual that results in good thoughts, words, and deeds; values are defined as qualities of thought, word, and deed commonly associated with good character (e.g., truth, love, peace, honesty, respect, responsibility). Results suggest that, in the current environment of pre-dominant focus on standards, assessment, and accountability focused on objectively measurable representations of knowledge, emphasis placed by schools on fostering values varies in inverse proportion to the emphasis placed on academic outcomes. In all three schools, parents' enrollment choice was based on their perceptions of the right proportion of both, contributing to shared values among typical families and similarity in typical students within each school. Parent expectations reinforced the accepted degree of emphasis on values at each school. Parent enrollment choice was strongly influenced by parent beliefs about the purpose of schooling and the purpose of fostering values in students. Description of forces influencing practices to foster values emerged in three areas: (a) beliefs about values and practices to foster them, (b) beliefs about and realities of the governance context of the governance context of the school and related school factors, and (c) opinions (whether or not true) about schools in other governance settings. There were similarities in the types of forces identified across all sites, with differences between schools in the perception of importance of specific influences.;Adverse conditions in traditional (especially larger) public schools may act as choice catalysts; these conditions include children's experiences of more conflict with and less acceptance by other students, less teacher attention and caring, less conduct monitoring and focus on values, and more dysfunctional and less caring parents contributing to a disjointed match between value-based behavior at home and school. Parochial school practices indicated more emphasis on fostering compassion and a benevolent view of others and were highly associated with spirituality. |
