[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16948-16949]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                             CHARACTERplus

 Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, today I wish to honor CHARACTERplus, 
an organization based in my State of Missouri, which helps build strong 
school communities where students feel valued and can succeed. As a 
former classroom teacher, I appreciate the work CHARACTERplus does to 
help educators instill positive character traits in students--such as 
responsibility and respect--by teaching, encouraging and living these 
values at school.
  Created by Sanford N. McDonnell in 1985, CHARACTERplus is the largest 
community-wide character education organization in the country. More 
importantly, because of the efforts of CHARACTERplus, Missouri leads 
the Nation in character education.
  Currently more than 75 school districts across several States are 
members of CHARACTERplus, which serves more than 330,000 students and 
29,000 teachers at 645 schools to transform school climate.
  Member districts and schools have unlimited access to professional 
development, national experts, the most current research on social, 
emotional and character development, skill training modules, survey 
tools to access school climate and opportunities to network with others 
in the field.
  Each year, the Character Education Partnership, CEP, recognizes 
schools that have demonstrated a commitment to character education by 
naming them a National School of Character. In 2013, CEP chose 29 
schools, 9 of which were members of CHARACTERplus, making Missouri the 
national leader in character education.
  Those schools include Independence Elementary in the Francis Howell 
School District; Jefferson City Academic Center in the Jefferson City 
School District; Beasley Elementary, Bierbaum Elementary, Hagemann 
Elementary, and Mehlville High School in the Mehlville School District; 
Chesterfield Elementary and LaSalle Springs Middle School in the 
Rockwood School District; and Discovery Ridge Elementary in the 
Wentzville School District.
  CHARACTERplus also works closely with the Missouri Department of 
Secondary and Elementary Education on several projects and runs the 
State School of Character Awards.
  I would like to congratulate CHARACTERplus for all of their hard work 
and commend them for helping the State of Missouri be a leader in 
character education.

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