Thomas Lickona  Jenna Volgamore  Jody Zillner  Kristen Haugen

Background  A developmental psychologist and Professor of Education at the State University of New York at Cortland  Directs the Center for the Fourth and Fifth Rs (Respect and Responsibility).  Visiting Professor at Boston and Harvard Universities  Past President of Association of Moral Development  Serves on the Board of Directors of the Character Education Partnership and the advisory councils of Character Counts Coalition and Medical Institute for Sexual Health.  He speaks at school and conferences about character education and moral development.  Ph D. in Psychology from the State University of New York in Albany.  Extensive work on the growth of a child’s moral reasoning  Named a State University of New York Faculty Exchange Scholar and the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the State University of New York at Albany.

Influences  Kohlberg (Stages one through five)  William Damon and Robert Selman (Stage Zero)

Theory The Stages of Moral Reasoning: Preschool to Adulthood  Stage 0: Egocentric Reasoning  Preschool- around age 4  Stage 1: Unquestioned Obedience  Kindergarten

 Stage 2: What’s in it for me fairness  Early Elementary ages  Stage 3: Interpersonal Conformity  Middle to upper elementary grades and early-to-mid teens  Stage 4: Responsibility to “The System”  High school years or late teens  Stage 5: Principled Conscience  Young Adulthood

Critique  What set of values the children should be learning.  Character Education has no “substantive” quality and does little to improve standardized test scores.

Classroom Applications  Meaningful and challenging academic curriculum  Develop students’ intrinsic motivation  School staff must become a learning and moral community  Moral Leadership from staff and students  Parents and Community members  Assess the school and staff as character educators.

“When we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it’s clear that we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and then do what they believe is right- even in the face of pressure from without and temptation from within..” -Thomas Lickona

References  m m m  education.info/Articles/stages_of_moral_ development.htm education.info/Articles/stages_of_moral_ development.htm education.info/Articles/stages_of_moral_ development.htm  m m m  2/character.html