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Part of Western Governors University
Character Education for a Better Society (CEBS)
Driving character education to achieve a positive nationwide impact.
The goal of the CEBS project is to be a catalyst to both individual and societal flourishing by developing and delivering online competency-based professional learning programs in character education. These programs will prepare and support K–12 educational leaders and teachers in creating school cultures that cultivate, value, and celebrate teachers and students of character.
At WGU, we believe in the inherent worth of every individual and that education is one of the surest ways to discover and develop purpose and meaning in our interconnected lives. We are committed to removing the intractable barriers that are blocking our society from seeing the value of each human being and the value of serving and caring for each individual.
Thanks to the Kern Family Foundation’s support of our CEBS project, WGU Teachers College is honored to contribute to thriving school communities of character by offering online competency-based education to thousands of educators, schools and communities, and tens of thousands of students and families across the nation.
FREE FOR PRINCIPALS
Fees for Principals: WAIVED
Fees for Teachers: $240 micro-credential assessment + $10 one-time fee
The Importance of Next-Generation Educators Catalyzing Character Education
Professor James Arthur, Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham; Dr. Beth Purvis, Senior Program Director of the Education & Character Program of the Kern Family Foundation; and Dr. Mark Milliron, Senior Vice President & Executive Dean of the WGU Teachers College, discuss the central role that character education plays in preparing students to “Live well in a world worth living in.” Session participants define character education in the context of our current society and highlight how an intentional focus on character in action fosters a school where character extends beyond its borders and into a community that thrives and flourishes.
Our approach:
• Allows principals to learn and reflect about virtue ethics and character to envision the school culture they want to achieve, and the dispositions and behaviors they want their staff and students to embody.
• Allows principals and teachers going through their programs in the same 1-year time period to leverage the interconnectedness of the two separate tracks. As both principals and teachers move through their micro-credentials, they complete tasks that require them to engage with one another, on a variety of topics. This elevates and synergizes principal and teacher thinking, learning—competencies—to develop a comprehensive school-level strategy for building a school of character.
WGU's character education professional learning program.
WGU Teachers College is offering a national online character education professional learning (CEPL) program for K-12 principals and teachers to support them in building schools of character.
Character education professional learning for educational leaders (CEPL-E)
The CEPL-E is a 1-year program that wraps around a series of micro-credentials, convenings, and other opportunities for principals to engage with colleagues and character education experts. Principals select 1-3 teachers to participate in the CEPL-T.
Character education professional learning for teachers (CEPL-T)
The CEPL-T program, which starts after principals have begun their program, is designed as self-service micro-credentials for teachers to complete at their own pace, guided by the milestones set by their principals who are going through the CEPL-E program.
Program outcomes.
Principals are prepared to:
- Develop a plan for building a culture of character in their school—both on-site and online
- Become leaders of character and character education
- Develop deep knowledge of and skills in the formation and education of character
- Apply principles of character throughout the school community
- Guide teachers toward the common goal of creating a school of character where every child achieves academically and thrives socially
- Support teachers in exemplary teaching and modeling of character
- Lead and support school staff in character formation and education
- Incorporate character education into the curriculum, school-day, and school community, in-person and beyond the physical school parameters
- Leverage the use of technology aligned to ISTE* Educational Leader standard for professional growth, academic success and character formation
Teachers are prepared to:
- Become character educators
- Develop and apply knowledge of and skills in the formation and education of character
- Integrate and model character in their teaching practice, classroom activities and throughout the school community
- Develop course/class/lesson strategies to implement with their students
- Leverage the use of technology aligned to ISTE Educator and Student standards for professional growth, academic success and character formation
- Use tech enabled curriculum to integrate character education into on-site and online learning
* International Society for Technology in Education
Program details.
The CEPL-E program is supported by an online community where principals engage in discussions, share learnings and practices, and vet and iterate ideas.
It will be available to principals and teachers long after they complete their CEPL program, for continued learning and growth, and rich exchanges with colleagues around the country.
Program dates.
- 2-Day Summer Institute: July 13, 2021, 10 am-2 pm and July 14, 2021, 10 am-2 pm, MT
- Quarterly ½ Day Convenings:
Fall Convening: October 20, 2021, 10 am-2 pm, MT
Winter Convening: January 19, 2022, 10 am-2 pm, MT
Spring Convening: April 20, 2022, 10 am-2 pm, MT
Participants.
- 100 principals are invited to participate in the CEPL-E
- Each principal invites 1-3 teachers from their school to participate in CEPL-T
Fees.
Fees for Principals:
- Waived: CEPL-E enrollment
- Waived: Micro-credential assessment
- Waived: Digital record of achievement transcript and certificate
Fees for Teachers:
- Waived: CEPL-T enrollment
- $240 micro-credential assessment ($60 per each of the 4 micro-credentials)
- $10 one-time fee for digital record of achievement transcript and certificate
Register Now
Please complete this form to be part of our inaugural program for Principals, School Leaders and District Administrators.