Middle School Students and Character Education: Empowering Students in Social Decision Making (2015)

Undergraduate: Calvary Diggs

Faculty Advisor: Patrick Akos
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Character education programs are often used as a form of primary prevention in the public school setting. A goal of character education is to develop the skills necessary for students to approach the vast array of conflicts, dilemmas, and choices that occur throughout the lifespan. In particular, during the middle school years, students are often faced with newly emerging challenges. In a similar trend, entry into middle school for early adolescents has been associated with declining grades and higher rates of antisocial tendencies. However, despite the possible positive educational outcomes, deliberate character education practices typically decline following the elementary school years. Yet, a forthcoming meta-analysis of character education programs in middle school has suggested that character education has modest effects on various academic, behavioral, and social outcomes for students. The current presentation explores results of the forthcoming meta-analytic review, common practices in character education, research on effectiveness, and how elementary school character education practices can be adapted and integrated at the middle school level. Findings are anticipated to provide further insight and strategies concerning character education¿¿¿s potential to impact the social-emotional and decision making development of middle school students.