State Educational Agency | Lancaster County School District

South Carolina Department of Education Abstract

Contact: Camille S. Nairn
South Carolina Department of Education
Education Associate
1429 Senate Street, Room 906
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 734–8445
cnairn@sde.state.sc.us

Character Education in South Carolina

Application Number: R215V970004
Project Period: 1/1/97–12/31/01
FY 1997 Award: $250,000
FY 1998 Award: $250,000
FY 1999 Award: $250,000
FY 2000 Award: $250,000

Thirty-two school districts in South Carolina now are implementing character education through the Federal Partners in Education Grant program. Other project activities include:

• Supporting the development of cities of character;

• Developing a partnership between Team Amick Motorsports (a NASCAR racing team), SCANA (our state's largest power distributor), Rev It Up! Publications, and the South Carolina Department of Education to promote good character and improve academics. Driver Lyndon Amick addresses student groups on the importance of good character. A supplemental high-interest curriculum based on racing stories, and math and science problems is distributed to selected schools to improve academic skills;

• Through the Center for Advancement of Ethics and Character (CAEC), offering a 1-week Character Education Academy in the upstate region at Boston University, Converse College, Furman University, Wofford College, Greenville County School District, and Spartanburg County School Districts. This academy was developed at CAEC (Boston University) to provide teachers an understanding of the fundamental issues regarding good character, as well as opportunities and resources for helping students understand and respect humanity's highest moral ideals and traditions of civility;

• Developing and producing a training video; and

• Sponsoring annual statewide Character Education conferences and a Student Character Education Conference.

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Lancaster County School District Abstract

Contact: Paul N. McKenzie
300 S. Catawba
P.O. Box 130
Lancaster, SC 29720
(803) 416-8862
pmckenzi@mail.lcsd.k12.sc.us

Positive Action Program

Grant Number: R215S020043
Project Period: 10/1/02 - 9/30/06
FY 2002 Award: $431,445
FY 2003 Award: $379,921
FY 2004 Award: $385,613
FY 2005 Award: $366,816

The project is based on a rigorous risk-focused assessment and meticulous planning conducted by a community Prevention Coalition comprised of over thirty public, private, civic, and faith-based entities. The proposed Character Education program will serve elementary school students from four randomly selected target sites. Following a rigorous review of best practice literature, the Coalition selected the Positive Action Program for replication in this rural southern county.

Positive Action Program (PAP) is a comprehensive character education program that has been used in over 8,000 schools in every state and 100 international schools. The program has been named an exemplary program by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Safe and Drug-Free Schools, National Institutes of Health, and U.S. Department of Education - Title I School Reform. Backed by over twenty years of outcome research, PAP has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing behavioral incidences and school violence while facilitating academic performance. The program includes a Classroom Component with lesson plans aligned with state curriculum standards, a School Climate Component to integrate character education into the school milieu, and Parent and Community Components that parallel the school-based model.

The evaluation methodology includes random assignment to a treatment or control site, standardized instrumentation, process tracking, and statistical analysis to help assess the effectiveness of PAP on behaviors and presumed mediating variables.

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