Ryan was not surprised by the results. He is scheduled to report the findings at an April press conference in Washington. Another large-scale CAEC research project, funded by the Templeton Foundation, identifies 10 schools annually from across the United States with exemplary programs in ethics for their pupils. The schools are intended to serve as national models. Last year, the first 10 Schools of Character were named in collaboration with a Business Week institutional awards program.
Professional education is one of CAEC's most important activities.
During the past nine years, more than 600 elementary and secondary school educators have attended its summer Teacher Academies, intellectual retreats where participants reflect on moral lessons drawn from an array of humanities texts ranging from ancient philosophical works to the poetry of Langston Hughes. Teachers respond to the retreats enthusiastically and bring what they have learned back to their classrooms, according to Ryan and his colleagues. So far, sites for the summer institutes have included Boston and parts of New Hampshire and Georgia, but eventually the center hopes to establish a federation of academies nationwide. Over the years, the CAEC has advised educators around the world, often with on-site workshops. It has worked most intensively with the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School in Franklin, Mass., where temperance, prudence, fortitude, and justice are regular topics of classroom discourse.