Character Education Grant

In April 2000, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a three-year grant to the Virginia Department of Education to support the implementation of character education throughout the state. As the lead agency, the Department of Education is working in partnership with three school districts, Albemarle County Schools, Fairfax County Schools, and Stafford County Schools.

The ongoing activities of the Virginia Character Education Grant have provided for the advancement of character education development in schools across the Commonwealth. Creating a school climate that is safe, caring, and conducive to learning is the primary objective of effective character education efforts.

The project contributes to four broad goals:

Planning, implementing and evaluating a systematic, yet flexible approach to character education in keeping with the requirements of the Code of Virginia, as well as with other traits identified by the community.

Developing skills and behaviors necessary to support the development of youth who can be contributing citizens by integrating character education practices in all schools.

Maintaining/improving student achievement by identifying the correlation between Virginia's Standards of Leaning (SOLs) and the elements of character education.

Linking existing federal, state, and local resources that merge research and character development.