Lake Bluff Elementary School

How did we get started? Lake Bluff began its involvement with Character Education in June of 2006 when six of our teachers attended the second annual Character Education Conference sponsored by the Jefferson School District and the Wisconsin Character Education Partnership. These teachers were inspired to approach the entire staff with hopes of mak... ing "Character Education" a school-wide focus. Beginning in August of 2006, the staff and faculty began to develop a vision for Character Education (CE) in our building with a focus on specific traits: Respect, Responsibility, Caring, Self-Discipline, Honest, Courage, Perseverance, Fairness and Citizenship. A SEED (Supporters of Excellence in Educational Development*) grant brought in Hal Urban and Marvin Berkowitz to train our teachers. These two experts in CE shared their insights and helped guide our staff's understanding and implementation of CE. (*SEED is an all-volunteer, local organization designed to help fund educational initiatives in our district.) How has our participation in Character Education changed our school? According to Principal Kirk Juffer, our latest student survey results show that our students feel respected, nurtured, challenged, included, and successful. Parents and staff agree that character education has been important in creating a warm, challenging school environment where students can flourish. From the Wisconsin Character Education Partnership website: WCEP is the sponsor for the State Schools of Character (SSOC) award program for Wisconsin. This award program, in partnership with the Character Education Partnership, gives state schools recognition for their exemplary character education programs. Wisconsin is one of 30 states participating in the SSOC program. SSOC winners become eligible for the National Schools of Character (NSOC) recognition. Beginning in 2011, the NSOC program recognized all schools and districts that reached a standard of excellence. This move from competition to mastery is designed to inspire all schools and ...Read More