This newsletter is designed to be of help to the English as a second language community. This volume includes the following articles and features: "Stress: Helping Refugees Cope"; "BEST Gets Better"; "Integrating English Literacy and Civics"; "Summit Stirs Many Into Action"; "TESOL-AEIS on the Internet"; "Civics for Adult Immigrants"; "BEST Gets…

Youth courts, comprising teen courts, peer juries, peer courts, student courts, and other courts wherein juveniles sentence juvenile respondents, have rapidly gained popularity. In 1991 there were over 50 youth courts in 14 states. By 2002, the number of youth courts grew to more than 850 in 46 states and the District of Columbia. This digest…

At a time of widespread public cynicism about social institutions, America's community colleges are striving to reconnect with the communities they serve and function as catalysts for community renewal. In a recent national survey, about a third of the colleges questioned had formalized service learning in their course work, and nearly half…

This document focuses on the requirements of the immigrant amnesty process, which were established by the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. Sections focus on the following questions: (1) How can eligible legalized aliens (ELA) fulfill the IRCA educational requirements? (2) What issues are considered in designing and offering an…

This special section of "Social Education" deals with citizenship education and the role of the social studies in preparing citizens for the 21st century. Articles include Canadian viewpoints, ERIC documents pertaining to citizenship education, student journal writing, technology and the social studies, and a list of new social studies…

This book provides a reflective analysis of the effort since 1991 of a group of Polish and U.S. educators to develop civic education programs for schools and teachers in Poland. The book contains 13 chapters and three appendices. Chapters include: (1) "Principles of Democracy for the Education of Citizens in Former Communist Countries of…

Designed to help educators address science-related social issues, this publication considers: (1) major challenges associated with science-related social issues; (2) the extent to which these challenges are being met; (3) ways in which educators can improve the education of citizens in science, technology, and social issues; and (4) promising…

This overview of nationwide bicentennial efforts with particular relevance for elementary and secondary educators deals with three apsects of the commemoration. First discussed is the programming that national organizations, such as the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, Project '87, The American Bar Association (ABA), and…

Political tolerance is the willingness to extend basic rights and civil liberties to persons and groups whose viewpoints differ from one's own. It is a central tenet of a liberal democracy. The individual rights and freedoms that U.S. citizens value encourage a wide array of ideas and beliefs, some of which may offend segments of the population.…

Civic education is the teaching of knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become a responsible and effective citizen of a representative and constitutional democracy. Although civic education has been part of the core curriculum of elementary and secondary schools since the founding of the United States, in recent years leaders in…

Great ideas about law, government, and the rights of individuals, embedded in U.S. founding documents, are the connective cords by which national unity and civic identity have been maintained in the United States from the 1770s until today. To be a citizen is to understand and have a reasonable commitment to the ideas in the founding documents.…

This theme issue of "The International Journal of Social Education" contains 11 articles all concerned with efforts to promote civic education in post-communist countries, particularly former Soviet-Bloc nations, including Latvia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Russia. Described are international partnerships for civic…

This document contains a reprint of the 1916 "The Social Studies in Secondary Education: A Six-Year Program Adapted Both to the 6-3-3 and the 8-4 Plans of Organization and Report of the Committee on Social Studies of the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education of the National Education Association" widely believed to be the most…

This ERIC digest discusses the National Standards for Civics and Government for students from grades K-12. The Standards are organized around five central questions dealing with the following subjects: (1) the nature and necessity of government; (2) the foundations of American constitutionalism; (3) the functioning of American government and the…

This document discusses several aspects of teaching about religion in the public schools. While religion is an important element in many areas of literature, art, and music, the social studies, especially history and civics, provide the best opportunity for including religion in the curriculum. Teaching about religion in public schools is examined…