More Resources Character Counts Week

MAPLEWOOD, Mo. -- During a conference on Character and Community today, Laura Bush announced that five states and 34 school districts have received a total of $16.7 million in grants to work with communities to help schools provide students with lesson plans that promote high moral character.

Mrs. Bush made the announcement during a conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and Court TV designed to highlight the Bush administration's commitment to expanding character education and service opportunities for young Americans.

"Reading and writing are not all we need to teach our children," Mrs. Bush said. "Respect and responsibility are just as important. And we need to make sure we're teaching our children to be responsible citizens who have good values and ethics. These grants will help achieve that."

Receiving the three-year grants, known as Partnerships in Character Education, are Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada and New Jersey, and school districts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

Each grantee will work with organizations to establish character education programs for youth. The focus will be on caring, civic virtue and citizenship, justice and fairness, respect, responsibility and trustworthiness.

Parents, students, and other community members, including private and non-profit organizations, can participate in the design and administration of programs. The character education partnerships will provide teacher training, gauge and build community consensus on common values, involve parents in character education, and integrate character education into the curriculum.

The projects will be evaluated to determine their success toward reducing discipline problems and improving student grades, increasing participation in extracurricular activities, and strengthening parent and community involvement.

The grantees were selected from 266 applications received from state and local education agencies.

President Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act brought new changes to this year's program. Previously, only state education agencies (SEAs), in partnership with local education agencies (LEAs), were eligible. Under NCLB, SEAs and LEAs are eligible to apply. The grants are from the Fund for the Improvement of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

Click this link for a list of grant amounts and contacts.

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