Politicians, parents, and teachers are decrying the "character" crisis in U.S. schools. Violence is on the rise, dropout rates are increasing, and test scores are falling. People are looking for ways of enhancing values in school reform. What is missing in this quest for reform is the acknowledgment of the fact that key agents of education (home, community, and places of worship) are rapidly changing and education is not keeping pace with these changes. Today's busy parents often lack the time and opportunities to build and maintain positive character traits in their children. As a result, most children enter elementary school with some character skill deficits. These deficits manifest themselves in the form of violent behaviors, low frustration tolerance, poor task orientation, poor impulse control, limited peer skills, and other delinquent behaviors. Classroom teachers spend valuable instructional time reacting to these behaviors in playgrounds, hallways, and classrooms. In 1995, Southern Connecticut University funded Homework Etc., a pilot partnership character education program aimed at building and maintaining positive character traits in children during the elementary school years. This program formed a partnership among teachers, parents, community businesses, and a primary school in New Haven, Connecticut. These partners were trained to identify, teach, and reinforce positive character traits in kindergarten through third grade. Analysis of pre- and post- group instruction data on specific character skills (listening, respect, responsibility, and cooperation) indicated that children who systematically received planned group instructions on these skills showed remarkable improvement on basic character skill application across school settings. Contains 9 figures and 15 references. (Author/BT)