Character-Development Programs Called Into Question

Should America SCORES worry that programs emphasizing character education don’t work? According to a recent federal survey, maybe.

The Institute of Educational Sciences recently studied the effects of seven school-wide programs focused on improving youth behavior and academic performance. The results suggested that these programs had little to no effect on improving youth character. [To see an article on the study in Education Week, or see a pdf of the full study, click here.]

The three-year study appears comprehensive, though many of the teachers and program representatives involved in the study admitted difficulties in accurately measuring youth character development. Allen Ruby, the co-author of the report and the associate commissioner for policy and systems at the IES’s National Center for Education Research, suggested that the findings of the report should motivate a reassessment of the programs and how they work.

Ruby said: “It seemed not finding strong impacts among some of the programs makes you want people to take that step back and say how are these programs supposed to work and what steps do we need to do to make them work?”

We at SCORES, however, can take solace in that our program functions in ways that the study didn’t analyze. Namely, the study didn’t analyze programs that use athletics to teach positive character traits. The programs studied all use in-school strategies to promote traits like honesty, responsibility, and self-control. None appear to rely on the sort of dynamic after-school environment that SCORES does, one that promotes explorative values like creativity, self-expression, and teamwork.

So SCORES is safe from some of the critical analysis that is sure to be levied on the in-school programs that participated in the IES study. But SCORES could definitely benefit from knowing which aspects of these programs worked the best. 

Any thoughts?

-Cyrus Philbrick 
SCORES Program Manager