Marvin Berkowitz (center of circle) leads an exercise during the PRIMED Institute in Character Education in June. The five-day gathering provides educators an intensive overview of the PRIMED model of character education and the virtues of servant leadership. Berkowitz, Founders Professor of Education, and Melinda Bier, Teresa M. Fischer Professor of Citizenship Education, received a grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. to develop expert facilitators of the PRIMED model. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
The University of Missouri–St. Louis and the directors of its Center for Character and Citizenship, Melinda Bier and Marvin Berkowitz, have received a $259,616 grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc. to support character education.
Bier, Teresa M. Fischer Professor of Citizenship Education, and Berkowitz, Founders Professor of Education, were awarded the grant to develop expert facilitators for the PRIMED model of character education, extending the reach and depth of the International Center’s presence and capacity. They also emphasized the importance of character education and its transformative role in improving the lives of individuals and communities.
“Most centrally, the grant will increase the quality of dissemination by certifying trainers to meet the growing global demand for research-based character education,” Berkowitz said.
Berkowitz developed the PRIMED model of character education and authored the book, “PRIMED for Character Education: Six Design Principles for School Improvement,” in 2021. The model’s six key concepts are represented by the acronym PRIMED: Prioritization, relationships, intrinsic motivation, modeling, empowerment and developmental pedagogy.
Bier said the grant will be used to create a facilitator certification system for the PRIMED model of character education. She stressed that developing a network of expert facilitators will help ensure the high-quality implementation of the PRIMED model and maximize the benefits of character education in schools.
Berkowitz added that expanding the Center’s work in Mexico, Central America and South America, where the Center has previously consulted, builds on an existing foundation of bilingual educators who are already enthusiastic about implementing the PRIMED model. Furthermore, the initiative presents an exciting opportunity for collaboration to adapt existing materials and develop new materials to meet their countries’ cultural contexts.
“Furthermore, the initiative, through renewed partnerships, will contribute to the interest in international education pursued by the College of Education at UMSL, which is intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas and people to support a better, more peaceful world,” Dean of the College of Education Marius Boboc said.
The Templeton World Charity Foundation’s mission is to “provide scientific breakthroughs and practical tools relating to the search for meaning, purpose and truth.” The organization focuses on several core funding areas, including character and virtue development, and this grant initiative specifically prioritizes global innovations for character development as a lever for social change, increased prosperity and overall human flourishing.
UMSL’s College of Education plays a leading role in Missouri’s education workforce pipeline, and it is consistently recognized for its excellence in teacher preparation. Its undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs develop culturally competent, dedicated and highly trained teachers for a variety of traditional and nontraditional educational settings. The Center for Character and Citizenship was established in 2005 to engage in research, education and advocacy fostering the development of character, democratic citizenship and civil society.
In 2019, the John Templeton Foundation – a related charitable entity also founded by Sir John Templeton – awarded the center a $2.4 million grant to develop more effective school leaders. The award supported the development of Bier’s Cultivating Virtue in Leaders (CViL) program, which focused on cultivating servant leader virtues.
