A Cross-Sector Collaboration
Advancing Character’s Annual Conference serves as the premier gathering or leaders from research institutions, higher education, nonprofit organizations, service providers, and K-12 schools and networks for three days of collaborative learning, meaningful dialogue, and partnership building.
This unique conference breaks down silos by intentionally connecting:
- K-12 Practitioners bringing classroom and school-level expertise
- Researchers sharing recent findings and theoretical frameworks
- Nonprofit Leaders and service providers supporting character initiatives in schools nationwide
- Higher Education Faculty preparing the next generation of educators and leaders
In addition to insightful presentations, our conference emphasizes interactive engagement through table dialogues, hands-on workshops, and collaborative sessions. Participants don’t just attend—they contribute, share challenges, exchange proven strategies, and leave with both practical tools and lasting professional relationships.
Each year’s conference explores a timely theme that advances the field while addressing current educational challenges. Through research presentations, case studies, and practice-focused workshops, attendees gain insights that are immediately applicable to their work in character education.
In an educational landscape often divided between theory and practice, our Annual Conference creates rare common ground. Here, university researchers learn from classroom teachers, nonprofit leaders share resources with school administrators, and innovative practices are tested against rigorous research—all in service of better preparing young people for lives of purpose and contribution.
Join the conversation that’s shaping the future of character education.
Character does not develop in isolation. It is shaped by the environments we create, the relationships we cultivate, the systems we design, the language we use, and the opportunities we provide for individuals to practice character and purpose. Character formation is not the work of a single class or program. It is developmental, requiring intentional design across culture, curriculum, and institutional life.
The 2027 Advancing Character Annual Conference, Designing Environments for Character Growth, invites educators, researchers, leaders, and practitioners to explore how intentional environments influence character formation and human flourishing. Whether in classrooms, schools, universities, organizations, or communities, the conditions surrounding individuals profoundly affect how character is developed, nurtured, and sustained.
We seek proposals grounded in innovative practices, case studies, research, and lived experiences that illuminate how environments can be intentionally designed to foster character growth among leaders, educators, faculty, staff, and students. We especially welcome proposals that bridge K–12 and Higher Education perspectives, reflecting Advancing Character’s commitment to strengthening character development across the educational continuum.
What We’re Looking For
We encourage submissions that are interactive, experiential, and aligned with the conference theme. We prioritize sessions that:
Reflect a holistic understanding of character
Engage participants actively rather than passively
Offer actionable frameworks, tools, or insights
Advance dialogue and partnership across educational contexts
The program will incorporate two breakout session formats:
- Presentations: Sharing of research, resources, case studies, or theoretical insights allowing participants to consider its application across contexts, concluding with 5 minutes for Q&A. Presentations will be 30 minutes in length, including time for Q&A.
- Workshops: Hands-on, interactive sessions that provide tools, techniques, or frameworks participants can implement. Workshops will run for 60 minutes, allowing for deep engagement and practical takeaways.
Beyond breakout sessions, the conference will feature a Seeds and Needs session designed to spark connection and collaboration across our community.
This session is an opportunity to plant “seeds” of innovative ideas and identify “needs” where community support, feedback, or collaboration can help move their work forward. Centered on Designing Environments for Character Growth, contributors issue a call to the community by sharing emerging projects, questions, challenges, research, or opportunities for partnership.
Submitted descriptions and calls will be shared with attendees ahead of time, helping participants identify shared interests and opportunities for collaboration. During the conference, contributors facilitate two separate discussions, sharing their work with two different groups for approximately 20 minutes each. This structure is designed to foster deeper, more focused conversations and create meaningful opportunities for feedback, networking, and partnership.
Conference Strands
Designing for Purpose, Culture, and Shared Language
Examining how institutions make character visible, nameable, and lived.
Designing for Students
Examining how environments are intentionally shaped to support student character formation and flourishing.
Designing Structures and Systems
Examining the institutional conditions that surround teaching and learning, including how time is allocated, spaces are configured, programs are architected, and policies are designed to support character growth.
Designing for Leaders
Exploring both the formation of leaders and the environments leaders create.
Designing for Educators and Staff
Focusing on the adults whose daily practice and inner lives shape every environment students inhabit.
Designing Curriculum and Co-Curriculum
Examining how character is embedded in what K-12 and higher education institutions teach and how they teach it, across academic content, instructional design, and extracurricular programs.
Submission Guidelines for the 2027 Annual Conference
Those interested in presenting at the 2027 Advancing Character Annual Conference will submit the follow information:
- Session Title (15-word maximum)
- Presenter Information: Provide a short biography (100-word maximum), and contact information (Name, Affiliation, & Email) for every presenter involved in the session.
- Primary Audience: Teachers and Instructional staff, school and systems leaders, higher education faculty, higher education administrators, nonprofit and community leaders, and researchers
- Proposal Abstract (300-word maximum): Describe the purpose of the session, key ideas, learning outcomes, and participant experience. For Seeds and Needs proposals, contributors should briefly describe the “seed” they are bringing, the “need” they hope to explore with participants, how the work connects to the conference theme, and what kind of feedback, collaboration, or support would help advance the work.
- Conference Strand & Connection to Character Growth (50-word maximum): Explain how your proposal connects to the selected strand and contributes to character growth in education.
- Preferred Session Format: Presentation (30 minutes), Workshop (60 minutes), or Seeds & Needs (20 minutes)
Deadline:
All proposals must be submitted by September 30, 2026 at 11:45 p.m. Central Time
All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Selected proposals will be notified by October 29, 2026.