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Respect is something internationally understood.

It is also the October trait at Newport Mill Middle School, which is appropriate, because the school received a lot of it last week when educators from the Ministry of Education in Singapore visited to learn about the school's character education program.

Already visiting the area for the Character Education Partnership Conference in Alexandria, Va., this week, the Singaporean educators wanted to see a successful character education program in action. A visit to the Kensington school, which was nationally recognized for its program in 2007, was recommended by conference organizers.

"They were very astute," said Principal Penny Tsonis of the visitors. "Their discourse was very relevant. I felt that they were able to connect with us as a group and with our students."

Newport Mill's program promotes Eight Great Traits—respect, responsibility, cooperation, effort, trustworthiness, integrity, self-discipline and caring. Each month gets a new trait theme, and students that exhibit the trait are sometimes rewarded by teachers with a "Tiger Gram."

The school has "Make a Difference Monday," in which kids are read an inspirational quote during the announcements, and Michael Jackson's "The Man in the Mirror," a song about self reflection and improvement, is played in the halls.

Changes are occurring. Counselor Tim Rossini since the program's implementation, which occurred fully in 2006, referrals to the counselors and administrators are down. And in 2008, when the program wasn't stressed as much, teachers noticed.

"The teachers were saying, we really need it back, we really need to have a character education program in the school," said counselor Ellen Turverey.

Seventh-grader Evelyn Reyes thinks it makes a difference with positive peer pressure.

"If they see other people doing it they will say, ‘I want to follow their steps,'" she said.

Matthew Ou, the assistant director of Character Education for the Ministry of Education in Singapore, said his country is trying "to achieve a balance between nurturing critical and independent thinking skills and strength of character, on the one hand, and making sure that students are equipped with a strong foundation in basic knowledge on the other."

Singapore has been moving away from "excessive focus on test or examination grades" and toward more rounded character education since 2005, Ou said. He said that it was interesting to learn on his visit to Newport Mill that the United States has become more focused on testing since No Child Left Behind took effect.