Schools in California, New York, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Illinois and New Mexico will share $15.5 million in grants designed to help them implement programs that teach the principles of character development and the responsibilities of citizenship to their students, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today.

"Character education in the classroom supports students on a path to becoming honorable and compassionate," Secretary Spellings said. "Lessons in responsibility and respect are just as integral to a well-rounded education as lessons in reading, math and science."

The Partnerships in Character Education Program awards grants for up to four years to eligible state and local education agencies to design and implement character education programs, which teach students core ethical concepts, such as: civics; citizenship; justice; responsibility; and respect themselves and others. Grant recipients must show how they have integrated character education into classroom instruction and teacher training. They also must involve parents, students and the community in the process. The projects are evaluated to determine their success in helping students develop positive character, reduce discipline problems and improve academic achievement. Projects also must increase parent and community involvement with the school. This year's recipients were chosen from among 227 applicants.

Since 1994, a total of 136 state and local education agencies have received character education grants. No Child Left Behind expanded funding for the Partnerships in Character Education Program from $8 million to $24 million.

More information on Character Education grants is available at: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osdfs/programs.html. A list of the 2006 grantees follows.

Partnerships in Character Education
Fiscal year 2006 Grant Awards

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