Important Values for School-aged Children and Youth
Preliminary Report
W. Huitt, October 2003; Revised October 2004
A survey of important values, virtues, and attributes was developed and given to practicing and preservice teachers. The 154 terms were drawn from six different sources (GA Dept of Education Character Education Curriculum, Vessel’s Character Education Curriculum, the Copper to Gold Moral Character Development program, Seligman’s Signature Strengths, Kavelin-Popov’s Virtues Project, and Huitt’s Becoming A Brilliant Star model).
Teachers were from a private school (N = 32), public schools
in
Participants rated each term from 1 (Not important) to 5 (Critically important). Means for each term were computed and the terms were rank ordered based on the computed means.
|
Source |
Private School Educ |
Public School Educ |
Preservice Elementary |
|
Public School Educ |
0.87 |
|
|
|
Preservice Elem |
0.71 |
0.81 |
|
|
Preservice MG/HS |
0.81 |
0.94 |
0.89 |
Based upon this pilot study, the survey was slightly
modified and a second study completed. The revised
survey included 158 items drawn from the same sources (several low-scoring
items were dropped and additional terms were placed in the survey). Teachers
from public schools in
|
Source |
Educators |
Preservice Elementary |
Preservice Middle/HS |
|
Pre Elem |
0.87 |
|
|
|
Pre Mid/HS |
0.86 |
0.87 |
|
|
Parents |
0.78 |
0.86 |
0.77 |
The following 30 terms were ranked in the top 10 by at least one of the groups:
|
Number of Groups Selecting as One of Top 10 |
Value, Virtue, Attribute |
|
4 |
·
Drug-free ·
Honest ·
Respectful ·
Respect rights of others ·
Truthful |
|
3 |
·
Respect self ·
Respect, accept authority ·
Responsible ·
Rule-following |
|
2 |
·
Ability to work in teams ·
Accountable ·
Attentive ·
Cooperative ·
Hard-working ·
Law-abiding ·
Prompt & punctual ·
Respect for the Creator ·
Self-disciplined ·
Trustworthy |
|
1 |
·
Ability see another’s perspective ·
Dependable ·
Freedom from prejudice ·
Honorable ·
Obedient ·
Positive, encouraging attitude ·
Prepared ·
Respect for own rights ·
Respect for physical health ·
Self-controlled ·
Teachable |
Shown below are the means and rankings for these terms for each group and the average.
|
|
Educators |
Pre Elem |
Pre MG/HS |
Parents |
Average |
|||||
|
Mean |
Rank |
Mean |
Rank |
Mean |
Rank |
Mean |
Rank |
Mean |
Rank |
|
|
Drug-free |
4.7 |
1 |
4.8 |
1 |
4.4 |
1 |
4.7 |
4 |
4.7 |
1.8 |
|
Respect rights of others |
4.4 |
2 |
4.7 |
2 |
4.2 |
6 |
4.7 |
4 |
4.5 |
3.5 |
|
Respectful |
4.4 |
2 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.4 |
1 |
4.7 |
4 |
4.5 |
4.0 |
|
Honest |
4.4 |
2 |
4.5 |
6 |
4.1 |
9 |
4.7 |
4 |
4.4 |
5.3 |
|
Truthful |
4.3 |
6 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.1 |
9 |
4.8 |
1 |
4.4 |
6.3 |
|
Rule-following |
4.1 |
16 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.3 |
3 |
4.8 |
1 |
4.4 |
7.3 |
|
Respect self |
4.2 |
12 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.1 |
9 |
4.7 |
4 |
4.4 |
8.5 |
|
Respect, accept authority |
4.3 |
6 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.3 |
3 |
4.5 |
19 |
4.4 |
9.3 |
|
Trustworthy |
4.2 |
12 |
4.5 |
6 |
4.0 |
18 |
4.8 |
1 |
4.4 |
9.3 |
|
Responsible |
4.3 |
6 |
4.5 |
6 |
4.3 |
3 |
4.4 |
27 |
4.4 |
10.5 |
|
Accountable |
4.4 |
2 |
4.3 |
21 |
4.1 |
9 |
4.6 |
11 |
4.4 |
10.8 |
|
Hard-working |
4.1 |
16 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.1 |
9 |
4.6 |
11 |
4.3 |
11.3 |
|
Law-abiding |
4.3 |
6 |
4.4 |
9 |
4.0 |
18 |
4.5 |
19 |
4.3 |
13.0 |
|
Self-controlled |
4.1 |
16 |
4.3 |
21 |
4.2 |
6 |
4.6 |
11 |
4.3 |
13.5 |
|
Self-disciplined |
4.0 |
29 |
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