Character Education

Principles of Character Education

Getting Started Planning Character Education in Your School

Institute for Character Development
It began as a goal of the Iowa Sesquicentennial Commission (ISC) in 1992. In formulating the mission for the celebration of 150 years of statehood in 1996, the ISC wanted to leave a lasting legacy that would have a positive impact on the quality of life both now and for future generations.

Iowa's Sesquicentennial developed into a national model of success. The mission of the legacy was defined to recognize, enhance, and sustain the positive qualities of Iowans in order to promote civility through character development. A sustained statewide initiative developed, focusing on developing a grassroots understanding, appreciation and widespread use of civility and principled decision making in daily life.

The ISC created the Legacy 150 Foundation and established the non-profit organization as a grant funded institute at Drake University. The focus has been acting as a statewide partner of the national CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition. Through this partnership we work to mobilize community based character development initiatives rooted in the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.

The name of the organization was changed to The Institute for Character Development (ICD) to more accurately reflect the scope of our efforts, which have grown in our first six years of service. Our efforts now encompass over 450 schools in over 120 Iowa communities focused on implementing character development initiatives.

J. Scott Raecker, Executive Director
Kay A. Augustine, Associate Director
Kitty Olsen, Development Director
Eric Martin, Education and OutreachDirector
Wendy Havemann, Youth Involvement Coordinator
Amy Smit, Director of Communications and Special Events
Cheri McDaniel, Office Manager

2419 University Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50311
515-271-1910
www.iowacharacter.org