Throughout time, many have acknowledged the importance of character for a flourishing life and a virtuous society. Today, societal changes have left a gap in character formation. The rising generation has fewer role models and fewer connections to the stable institutions in which character is formed – families, churches, schools, community organizations.
Some have stepped forward to fill this gap. As a result, the educational landscape is starting to teem with character education materials. We applaud all these efforts, and we wish to contribute to this work with our own research and unique approach.
Many of today’s character education programs only seek to modify behavior. Behavior modification alone is fleeting – the good behavior can easily fall away outside the context of the classroom (or the home, or wherever the “rules” were created).
We envision something different: A program that helps people form internally driven character that lasts beyond the classroom and produces true serving leaders for society.
How it started
Our team of veteran educators set out to answer two key questions: How is character formed, and where is it held? The answers to these questions led to the development of our unique process.
We then began assembling hundreds of narratives and guides for leading character growers through a discovery process. We supplemented this content with training programs and developed a user-friendly platform to house the content. Three years of pilot programs with schools, organizations and homeschool families have allowed us to fine-tune the materials and supporting resources.
Today, the Character Formation Project is used in schools (both public and private), homes, Sunday schools, churches and professional development settings. We count nearly 125,000 students and 35,000 teachers who have experienced the program through our partnership agreements. Approximately 5,000 Character Growers are connected and engaged on our delivery platform.
The journey to Greater Purpose
Character formation is a lifelong journey. In our program, virtue is not the end goal. Rather, virtue is a means to accomplish Greater Purpose. We seek to develop flourishing people whose Identity, Purpose and Actions are intentionally aligned to serve a Greater Purpose.
Greater Purpose can take several forms depending on your educational setting. That’s why we’ve developed several approaches to character formation, suitable for a variety of settings. You may have noticed that both public and private schools participate in the Character Formation Project. That’s possible because our character formation process is common to all settings. The content varies depending on your educational setting.
Explore our site to learn more about our unique process, our content, and how to join the Character Formation Project.
Throughout all of this work, dedicated philanthropists have walked beside us, funding our research. We are grateful for their support to bring the Character Formation Project to life.
