Winner of the 2023 Outstanding Book Award from AERA's Moral Development and Education SIG!

In PRIMED for Character Education, renowned character educator Marvin W Berkowitz boils down decades of research on evidence-based practices and thought-provoking field experience into a clear set of principles that leaders, administrators, and teacher-leaders can implement to help students thrive.

The author's original six-component framework offers a comprehensive guide to shaping purposeful learning environments, healthy relationships, core values and virtues, role models, empowerment, and long-term development in any PreK-12 school or district.

This engaging and heartfelt book features tips for practice, anecdotes from award-winning schools, and straightforward tenets from moral education, social-emotional learning, and positive psychology.

Dr. Marvin W Berkowitz is Sanford N. McDonnell Endowed Professor of Character Education and Co-director of the Center for Character and Citizenship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA.

In PRIMED for Character Education, renowned character educator Marvin W Berkowitz boils down decades of research on evidence-based practices and thought-provoking field experience into a clear set of principles that leaders, administrators, and teacher-leaders can implement to help students thrive. The author's original six-component framework offers a comprehensive guide to shaping purposeful learning environments, healthy relationships, core values and virtues, role models, empowerment, and long-term development in any PreK-12 school or district. This engaging and heartfelt book features tips for practice, anecdotes from award-winning schools, and straightforward tenets from moral education, social-emotional learning, and positive psychology.

Part 1: Mapping the Terrain of Character Education 1. To the Point 2. Mapping the Terrain 3. Making the Case 4. PRIMED Part 2: Prioritization 5. What Does It Mean to Prioritize Character Education? 6. Making Character Education a Priority: Rhetorical Prioritization 7. Prioritization through Resource Allocation 8. School/Classroom Climate and Prioritization 9. Structural Prioritization 10. Leading Schools of Character Part 3: Relationships 11. Why Relationships? 12. Relationships in School 13. Relationships with External Stakeholders Part 4: Intrinsic Motivation (or Internalization) 14. The What and Why of Intrinsic Motivation 15. The Perils of Extrinsic Motivators 16. Outside In: Designing Schools for Intrinsic Motivation Part 5: Modeling 17. Being Good 18. The Pedagogy of Modeling Part 6: Empowerment 19. What is Empowerment and Why is it Important for Character Education 20. Empowerment Implementation Strategies Part 7: Developmental Pedagogy 21. Developmental Perspective: Thinking Long-term 22. Developmental Pedagogy: Educating for the Long Run Part 8: Final Thoughts 23. PRIMED for Character Education