Duluth Public Schools Academy (DPSA)
Character Education

     Character education is an integral component of the Duluth Public Schools Academy Edison Charter School community.  Faculty, student, and family behavior is guided by three simple expectations: be safe, be kind, and be responsible.  The learning environment is further shaped by a set of eight core value -- wisdom, justice, courage, compassion, hope, respect, responsibility, and integrity.  To assure that our expectations and values are embedded into every aspect of the school community, we have developed a character and ethics program that is guided by a set of grade-specific standards.  The program helps sustain a safe, supportive, and reflective school environment.  The standards address the areas of behavioral instruction, curricular instruction, partnership with families and communities, the school-wide character education climate, classroom community building, and rules and discipline.

    The Primary Academy (grades K-2) character and ethics instruction encourages children to pursue the best parts of themselves, fostering character traits such as responsibility, fairness, honesty, and diligence.  The Elementary Academy’s (grades 3-5) character and ethics program highlights three interrelated topics: friendship, integrity, and self-respect.  Finally, the Junior Academy’s (grades 6-8) character and ethics program embraces the realities of the adolescent social world.   Misconceptions or confusion about the meaning of relationships, independence, honesty and trust, often abound.  Consequently, the program focuses on concepts of respect, responsibility, friendship, democracy, community, and integrity and what this means in the day-to-day interactions and encounters at school.