SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 32
WHEREAS, the teaching of universal themes such as honesty and integrity benefit the community as a whole by accomplishing change in ways that strengthen, support, and reflect the local community's values; and
WHEREAS, having good character demonstrates understanding, caring, and acting upon core ethical values such as honesty, respect and responsibility and is an essential attribute of a successful individual; and
WHEREAS, schools that reach out to families and include them in character-building efforts greatly enhance their chances for success with students; and
WHEREAS, traits such as kindness and caring, respect and responsibility, fairness and honesty are critical to the overall health and safety of a school; and
WHEREAS, a school must be a caring community which motivates and challenges students to have good moral character and requires moral leadership from both staff and students; and
WHEREAS, polls have shown that 90% of those surveyed support the teaching of values, like responsibility, respect, courage, and caring in schools; and
WHEREAS, in 1988, CHARACTERplus, a statewide collaborative effort that reaches more than 600 schools, 25,000 teachers, and 300,000 students, and based on a grass-roots community project in the St. Louis region, was established in Missouri by parents, educators, and business leaders and is now our nation's largest community-wide response to the challenges of character education; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) Standard 6.5, a comprehensive intentional character education process helps schools create a positive climate for learning and promotes teacher and administrative responsibility; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with the MSIP Standard 6.6, a comprehensive intentional character education process provides the strategy to promote and maintain orderliness in schools and creates a safe environment; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with MSIP Standard 6.6, the CHARACTERplus process provides an assessment tool that gathers data, provides comprehensive and comparative data reports, and furnishes consultation for analyzing and setting up a yearly plan to modify and improve programs and strategies; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with MSIP Standard 6.7, the CHARACTERplus process provides professional development for school character education teams and for the entire school staff as an integral part of the character education process; and
WHEREAS, the principles taught by the CHARACTERplus process are consistent with "Goal 4" of the Show-Me Standards, as approved by the Missouri State Board of Education on January 18, 1996, which states, "Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to make decisions and act as responsible members of society"; and
WHEREAS, at least fourteen states have passed legislation requiring character education be taught in schools, while an additional fourteen states encourage the teaching of character education; and
WHEREAS, character education initiatives in Missouri have received support from the U.S. Department of Education in the form of federal grants to our schools to support local character education efforts as has the State of Missouri:
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the Missouri Senate, Ninety-Second General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the House of Representatives concurring therein, hereby challenge each school district in our state to develop a character education process that involves school, home, and community, and if they already have such a process in place, reevaluate such process in order to make certain the resources that best benefit the students of this state are being utilized.