Character Education Partnership's
National Schools of Character Award

School-Connect Executive Director and lead-author Kathy Beland presented the National Schools of Character (NSOC) Awards on November 2, 2007 at the Character Education Partnership (CEP) National Forum.  She is the current Chair of the NSOC Blue Ribbon Panel which selects annually 10 schools and districts (K-12) for exemplary practices in character education.  Every fall CEP publishes a book detailing these practices, and the award-winners receive a grant to conduct outreach efforts to other schools and districts throughout the year. Awards are also given to the finalists and to schools and districts with Promising Practices.

While working at CEP, Kathy oversaw the development of this prestigious awards program—drawing together leaders in the field to establish the Character Education Quality Standards, an assessment instrument based on the Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education. This document serves as the scoring criteria for the awards.  Kathy is lead author of CEP's Eleven Principles Sourcebook, How to Achieve Quality Character Education in K-12 Schools (2003), a series of guides for developing effective character education initiatives in schools.

For more about the National Schools of Character Awards program go to www.character.org.