In 1995, Alabama became one of the first states to legislate character education. The mandate was simple: ten minutes a day focused on 25 traits. Implementation, however, was left up to individual educators—many of whom, like current University of Alabama professor Ben White, barely noticed its effects.
“I went through school during that time,” White recalls. “And I didn’t notice much of a change.”
The early model treated character as a scheduled lesson or a boxed curriculum. For Dr. David Walker, Director of the University’s Center for the Study of Ethical Development, this approach missed the point.
“Character is not a program,” Walker explains. “Character is everything. Character is the way you do business in a school. It’s how you relate to each other.”
In 2020, Walker, alongside Dr. Brenda Mendiola and Dr. Yvette Bynum, launched Leadership for Character at the University of Alabama. The project is guided by three convictions:
- Schools should cultivate human flourishing.
- Character begins with the self.
- Since schools inevitably form character, we should be intentional about how.
In addition to designing a Master’s in Educational Leadership in which character is integrated, the UA team runs two programs for in-service educational leaders.
“The first is a semester-long Professional Learning Unit for people with a current administrator certificate, and this is good because these people are current superintendents and principals and they spend the semester evaluating themselves, developing a moral growth mindset, and learning from other National School of Character Principals,” says White.
The second is the Alabama Superintendents’ Academy (UASA)—a joint initiative between UA’s College of Education and the Alabama State Department of Education. Founded in 2002, the Academy prepares aspiring and current superintendents through a six-session program covering law, finance, instruction, and now, character formation.
Participants engage in personal reflection, ethical scenario discussions, and practical planning for character-infused leadership. They read works like Character as Destiny (Russell Gough, 2020) and complete the VIA character strengths survey.
“First, we ask them to look inward,” says Mendiola. “What are your core values? How do you live them out in your leadership?”
The second move is outward, toward leading schools where character is a visible, shared priority.
“We ask, how would you explain character education to your faculty? Why do it? And how will you implement it?” said Mendiola.
Central to this process is the Intermediate Concept Measure (ICM), a tool developed at UA that assesses moral reasoning through real-world school leadership dilemmas.
“It’s incredibly useful,” says Walker. “It invites leaders to think through complexity and weigh competing values.”
The measure includes group discussions wherein participants offer different perspectives, from elementary principals to state-level administrators.
“These conversations are key,” says White. “They allow leaders to see through different lenses.”
In Alabama, it is possible to become a Superintendent without having attended the academy. However, that person would still have to complete the first part of the course and pass the tests on finance, law, and instruction. Leaving no stone unturned, the UA team has been sure to incorporate character here, too. Drawing on their framework, they weave character into conversations about good judgment, integrity, or conscientiousness.
So it is fair to say that the lion’s share of educational leaders in the state of Alabama are getting the opportunity to reflect on themselves and how their schools will support human flourishing. And this is creating a real impact throughout the state. UASA participants often return to their districts to build character teams, shift policies, and train others.
In fact, the leverage of leadership is a key piece to this puzzle. The UASA is a long-standing initiative that precedes the Leadership for Character project, so in one respect, the convergence of leadership and character was a lucky happenstance. Lucky, because it turns out the school and district leaders have the leverage to make sustainable changes that building personnel, like teachers or even principals, might not. They can shift budgets, set policies, and support teachers.
“It’s where we are getting the bang for our buck,” says White. “I met with alumni in Mobile (AL) who wanted to keep the conversation going. And because they’re already in leadership roles, they have the leverage to make change.”
A past participant put it aptly: As a leader, “you set the range – you are the floor and ceiling.”
As character becomes central to how Alabama prepares its school leaders, it has the potential to change schooling throughout the state.
“We’re seeing a groundswell,” says Mendiola. “And the more leaders we train, the more interest we generate.”
