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Review of the book
Building Character in Schools: Resource Guide
Reviewed by
Aubrey J. Scheopner
A Book Review Published in
TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus
Volume 2, Issue 1, September 2005
Copyright © 2005 by the author. This work is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attri-
bution License
Review of the book
Building Character in Schools: Resource Guide
Reviewed by
Aubrey J. Scheopner
This article reviews:
Bohlin, K.E., Farmer, D., & Ryan, K. (2001). Building character in schools:
Resource guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
SUGGESTED CITATION:
Scheopner, A. J. (2005). Building character in schools: Resource guide: A book review.
TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 2(1) Article 4. Retrieved [date] from
http://escholarship.bc.edu/education/tecplus/vol2/iss1/4
The challenge of educating today’s chil-
dren about immorality and leading virtuous
lives is one wrought with complications and
debate, especially in deciding which set of
values to teach. Building Character in
Schools: Resource Guide makes a strong case
for the place of character education in schools
and offers some practical advice for schools
seeking to start a character development pro-
gram. Acting as a companion to the Building
Character in Schools: Practical Ways to
Bring Moral Instruction to Life published in
1999 by Jossey-Bass Publishers, the resource
guide outlines much of the same material. In
addition, however, the guide presents check-
lists, best practice stories, reflection ques-
tions, appendices with strategies, field tested
approaches, and resources for helping schools
begin the process of incorporating character
education throughout the curriculum. While
the book provides clear advice and examples
on how to start a character development pro-
gram, it cannot be used as a comprehensive
curriculum. Rather, this book lays a founda-
tion upon which teachers and staff can begin
to create a program that meets the needs of
the school community. The importance of
involving parents, students, teachers, and
even local community members is stressed in
the process of defining and creating a pro-
gram. By involving people and constantly
reviewing, reflecting, and improving the pro-
gram, students will not only internalize the
lessons taught, but will take ownership of the
virtues. This approach of developing a cur-
riculum that caters to the school’s needs also
ensures that parents, staff, and students buy
into the program. With its versatile approach,
this could be used for helping schools teach-
ing students with special needs to develop a
meaningful program. Several examples are
given with schools of students with special
needs, but there are few resources listed that
specifically address the unique issues and
challenges that face these schools.
The Place for Character Education in
Schools
A brief history of character education in
the United States, which has been present in
American schools since the nation’s founding,
is outlined. The authors make the case that
character education is essential in schools to
help provide the foundation upon which soci-
ety can function. While the authors acknowl-
edge that parents and family members are the
primary educators of their children in regards
to virtues, they argue that schools play a vital
role in the partnership with parents to educate
the whole child. Whether schools are con-
scious of it or not, they do impact students’
moral development as students observe the
examples their teachers set. Becoming more
aware of the messages that teachers and
schools send to their students is one of the
first steps in creating a more purposeful ap-
proach to character development.
Defining the Program
Deciding on a common set of values is
often a difficult task for schools. This book
outlines some methods of gathering the com-
munity to create a list of morals and virtues to
be explicitly taught throughout the curricu-
lum. The authors also make the case that
while there is a need to be sensitive to the
different cultural and religious practices of
students, there are several universal values
that are shared among all cultures. These
include a respect for all people, the golden
rule of treating others as you would like to be
treated, and the nation’s core value that all
people are created equal.
Using the mission statement of the
school as the framework for character educa-
tion and involving the community, including
How to Incorporate the Program
Internalizing the goals of the character
education program by building awareness,
promoting understanding, and providing time
to reflect on the program is another important
step in the process. The book outlines several
ways to help spread awareness of the program
and its objectives, including formally
launching the program to ensure that every-
one is on board and expectations are clear.
Creating contracts or covenants for parents
and students to sign at the beginning of the
year that outline the goals of the program is
another approach that could help foster the
program. Keeping the community involved
through newsletters, updates, and even school
celebrations can also help build awareness.
Inviting feedback and providing parents with
workshops, resources, guest speakers, and
meetings for parents are crucial components
to an effective program. These can provide
parents with meaningful experiences, re-
sources, ideas, and time for reflection.
Providing time for students to reflect
is critical according to the authors. Students
need time to reflect on their actions, choices,
experiences, and learning in order to inter-
nalize the lessons and recognize their accom-
plishments and areas where they can continue
to grow. The authors advise schools to keep in
mind that, like any other subject in school,
character education differs between grade
levels and even students. Defining the goals
for each grade level could be an important
tool in helping students and even teachers un-
derstand the expectations. A continuum de-
veloped and used by a school is provided in
the appendix helping to visualize the differ-
ences that exist between grade levels.
Teachers need time to reflect on their
own actions and teachings. Providing teachers
with time to reflect on their own moral code
by using inspirational books, quotes, and op-
parents, students, teachers, and administrators
in defining the virtues that will be taught are
the means for developing a curriculum pre-
sented in the book. By including these groups
in the development of the character education
program, the unique needs of the school can
be addressed and a concerted effort can be
made where students receive the same mes-
sages from both home and school, enhancing
the program’s effectiveness. Creating a com-
mittee of members of these different groups is
the ideal model. This book gives some exam-
ples, or best practice stories, from schools
around the country that have adopted a simi-
lar approach, but does not describe specific
details about these committee meetings.
The authors argue that programs
should focus on virtues, the formation of
habits, rather than focusing instruction on
views, the intellectual opinions on issues, or
values, the ideals that are important to an in-
dividual. When programs focus on the view
approach to character education, more often
than not, focus is generated towards the con-
troversial topics that are discussed, rather than
the development of morality. Curriculum that
uses a values-based approach runs the risk of
imposing the school’s values on students
rather than providing students with the op-
portunity to define their own. Using virtues as
the cornerstone of a program, however, em-
powers students to cultivate habits that
stimulate the mind and the heart in the deci-
sions they make, the actions they take, and
the lives they lead. Several rubrics and guides
(many of which have been used in schools)
are provided to help students, staff, and par-
ents adapt and create their own definitions,
expectations, and goals of the character edu-
cation program and on which virtues the cur-
riculum will focus its attention.
help staff probe areas where the school is im-
parting character education and where they
can improve. Checklists are provided, though
are not to be easily copied, that help schools
ensure they include all aspects in their discus-
sions. These questions and checklists are
good conversation starters and get people
thinking about the goals of a character educa-
tion program and what is appropriate and
needed at the school. Examples of planning
committees are given, groups involving par-
ents, students, teachers, administrators, and
even community members to help define the
virtues and goals of the character develop-
ment curriculum. The authors acknowledge
that these can look very different from school
to school, and while they do offer some tips
on planning these meetings and recruiting
people, most of the advice is common sense.
A more in-depth description of these meet-
ings, including details on how to facilitate
these meetings, reasonable timelines and ex-
pectations for these meetings, and more in-
depth recounts of how schools went about
developing their programs would be helpful.
Several arguments are outlined by the
authors, including character education in
schools, mention of our nation’s founders and
their ambitions for this country, opinion polls
that show Americans support teaching of
certain morals and ideals, and the need for
virtuous people in a functioning democracy.
While these do furnish schools with some
ammunition against resistance to character
instruction, not enough are given. Going into
further detail about the history and how char-
acter education has fallen out of place in
American schools could also be helpful for
schools in order to gain an understanding of
the place of character development in educa-
tion and to tackle questions from parents and
the community.
portunities to collaborate with their col-
leagues can prompt teachers to take the time
in their often busy schedules to focus on who
they are as people and the example that they
set for students. The authors further outline
six ways that teachers can promote character,
including setting a good example for students,
discussing the virtues with students to build
their understanding, promoting an ethical en-
vironment where students are motivated to act
virtuously, encouraging students to reflect on
their experiences, and holding high expecta-
tions for students in regards to character and
leading virtuous lives. Teachers need time and
motivation to practice virtuous acts in and
among themselves in order to help provide
the example and inspiration for their students.
Reflection helps to keep the program and its
importance at the forefront.
Incorporating character education
throughout the curriculum, including in the
basic subjects like reading, math, social stud-
ies, writing, and science, is another point of
emphasis for the authors and they provide
examples and sample curricula that can be
used and adapted. A list of books that can be
used to help students gain an understanding of
the morals and virtues being taught along
with examples of how character education
can be included in the curriculum is pre-
sented. They also emphasize the importance
of using film and music to help students, yet
do not provide a resource list for educators to
use. The book stresses the importance of he-
roes and sharing stories with students about
the lives of good role models, including peo-
ple like Anne Frank, Harriet Tubman, Ma-
hatma Gandhi, and George Washington.
Summary
This book outlines some important
initial steps for schools starting a character
education program. The reflection questions
of how to engage and teach students about
people with special needs and the delicate
balance of instilling empathy and under-
standing without alienating students and peo-
ple in the community with special needs is
not discussed. This book does not provide any
type of curriculum, but rather advice and
steps in creating a program that fits the
school’s needs. In this way, schools could use
this book to create a character development
program tailored to the specific needs of the
students, including those with special needs.
More is needed, especially in terms of re-
sources, to help guide these schools with this
challenging prospect.
Throughout the chapters, the authors
emphasize the importance of heroes and ex-
posing students to the life stories and accom-
plishments of virtuous people throughout
history. While these stories do help “excite
the moral imagination” of students, as the
authors put it, sometimes these stories can be
overwhelming and even a bit too abstract for
students. Finding local heroes in the commu-
nity and even within the school should be
another point emphasized where students can
engage and interact with these people.
The book does provide some vignettes
that include students with special needs, in-
cluding best practice stories about schools of
students with learning disabilities. The topic
About the author: Aubrey J. Scheopner is a doctoral student in the Depar-
ment of Teacher Education, Special Education, and Curriculum and Instruc-
tion at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College.
