Intervention Ratings for Character Education

Each character education program that had at least one study meeting WWC standards (with or without reservations) received a rating of effectiveness in at least one outcome domain: behavior, knowledge, attitudes, and values, and academic achievement. The rating aims to characterize the existing evidence in a given domain, taking into account the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings, the size of the difference between participants in the intervention and comparison conditions, and the consistency in findings across studies.

The research evidence can be rated as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme). Table 1 shows the effectiveness ratings for the 13 programs in the three domains (empty cells indicate that no evidence was reported).