Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which principals and teachers perceived the importance of character education in California's K-12 public schools, and to identify specific character education elements principals and teachers perceived as being most important to include in character education programs. It was also the purpose of this study to identify and describe elements of character education perceived by principals and teachers as most important to create a safe and effective learning environment. In addition, this study sought to determine which character education elements principals and teachers perceived as being most important to increase student academic achievement. Finally, it was the purpose of this study to identify the strategies and recommendations principals and teachers perceived as being successful when implementing a character education program at a school site. Methodology. Subjects were K-12 California teachers and principals who implemented a character education program. Twenty-seven schools agreed to participate in an online survey (quantitative) and follow-up telephone interviews (qualitative). This study was a descriptive mixed-methods design. Findings. An examination of quantitative and qualitative data indicated that teachers and principals believe character education is an important element that must be included in California K-12 public schools to increase student achievement and facilitate a safe and effective learning environment. Conclusions. The findings from this study suggest the following: character education programs are very important to include in California K-12 public schools to increase student achievement and facilitate a safe and effective learning environment; when implementing character education, program elements should be studied to obtain the desired outcome wanted from the program. Recommendations. Character education must be mandated in all California K-12 public schools. Lawmakers must examine funding, while teachers and principals must learn about character education fundamentals in order to model the elements taught to students. Further research needs to be conducted on the impact character education has on closing the achievement gap. Additional studies should be completed to measure emotional and social intelligence of students later in life after participating in character education programs and activities.