2013 Illinois Schools of Character

Character Counts! Conference 2012

2012 Flyer

Date: Tues., October 16, 2012
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $50 per person ($10 for full-time students)
Registration: Click Here

2012 Illinois Schools of Character

Henry Raab Elementary School

Central Junior High School

Namaste Charter School

2013 Illinois Schools of Character Recognition Program

Application deadline: December 1, 2012

The University of St. Francis and the Will County Character Coalition are partnering with the Character Education Partnership (CEP) to offer the Illinois Schools of Character (IL-SSOC), recognition program. Many states, including Illinois, provide SSOC recognition, as a preliminary step to advancing to the Character Education Partnership’s (CEP) National awards program, the NSOC awards. The Illinois Schools of Character program is endorsed by the Illinois State Board of Education.

State Schools of Character (SSOC) are selected by state sponsors for having reached a standard of excellence within their states in the area of character development. Their applications are forwarded to CEP for consideration at the national level.

State Schools of Character:

  • Hold their SSOC designations for 3 years
  • Serve as models of excellence within their states where they share character education best practices as part of a state-wide network of schools of character.
  • Receive banners and other recognition at celebrations held in their honor by their state sponsors.
  • Are eligible for national recognition and technical assistance or other guidance from their state sponsors to help them achieve NSOC status.

State Schools of Character (SSOC) and NSOC applications are the same. All schools enter their applications directly on-line on the CEP website. University of St. Francis and Will County Character Education Coalition review and score all applications received. Those determined to meet a standard of excellence are named State Schools of Character (SSOC) for a period of 3 years and forwarded to CEP for further consideration as a National School of Character (NSOC).

Documents Needed to Apply

For more information about the Illinois State Schools of Character awards program, contact Dr. Madonna Murphy at mmurphy@stfrancis.edu or call 815-4740-3212.

The 2013 SSOC/NSOC Application is a completely online process. Applications have to be submitted online by December 1, 2012 in order to be reviewed and considered for possible recognition in 2013.

Applicants are asked to enter:

  • Basic information about their school or district
  • Narrative and portfolio evidence of how they are implementing each of the 11 Principles
  • Average scores from their stakeholder group’s 11 Principles self-assessment

For more information about the 11 Principles and conducting a self-assessment with stakeholders, please refer to the full 11 Principles of Effective Character Education.

Read Application Guidelines >>

Important tip for applicants:

Applicants are encouraged to compose and save their narrative responses using a word processing program and then “cut and paste” from their saved documents directly into the online application. This strategy can save hours of distress should an unlikely technical error occur. Similarly, applicants are encouraged to create separate “portfolio” documents for each of the 11 Principles before completing the application online so that they can easily upload them.

Resources for applicants:

Questions?

Contact NSOC Director Lara Maupin at lmaupin@character.org or ISSOC Coordinator, Dr. Madonna Murphy at mmurphy@stfrancis.edu