Babler Elementary School in Wildwood has been named a Missouri Schools of Character in the 2010 CHARACTERplus Schools of Character Awards.  The award will be presented to the school during a ceremony in June at the 16th annual Character Education Conference being held at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront.

“Babler Elementary is thrilled to receive this honor,” say school's principal, Dr. Diane Metz.”  The past four years we have worked to implement a multi-phase, school-wide program whose central aim is to help our school become a ‘caring community of learners’ that effectively promotes students’ intellectual, social, and ethical development and provides continuous improvement of practice for our teachers,” Metz adds.

In addition to receiving Missouri recognition, Babler’s application has been forwarded to the Character Education Partnership (CEP) in Washington, D.C.  The applications will be reviewed and screened for the 2010 National Schools of Character Award.  CEP will notify the schools in early March to inform them of whether or not they have been selected as a National Finalist.

Missouri is one of 28 states to initiate the 2010 State Schools of Character Awards.  Modeled after the Character Education Partnership (CEP) national program, the Missouri Schools of Character (MOSOC) program has a two-fold purpose.  One, to identify exemplary Missouri schools and districts to serve as models for others; and two, to help schools and districts improve their efforts in effective character educations.  MOSOC recognizes schools and districts that exemplify CEP’s Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education and demonstrate an outstanding character of education initiative that yields positive results in behavior, school climate, and academic performance.