A new report sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement reviews and interprets research on school-based civic education in the United States. Fifty-six leading experts provided the content of the report, reviewed and modified the draft version, and endorsed it. This…

Studies have confirmed that middle school students must learn to do the following: think about the future; recognize their responsibility for educational planning; broaden their aspirations beyond the stereotypes of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic level; develop and maintain self-esteem; develop complexity; understand how school relates to…

While the development of children's self-esteem is a worthwhile goal in early education, many practices designed to reach this goal may instead be encouraging narcissism. Such practices include those that direct children's attention to their own inner gratifications, or encourage children to believe their specialness is dependent on trivial…

In the prevailing and traditional definition, literacy is regarded as central to helping people obtain and retain employment, which is the key to moving them from dependency toward greater self-sufficiency. Another, more valid perspective is the view that literacy is not just the acquisition of reading and writing skills but is also a social…

Research has suggested that many adults choose not to participate in available literacy programs because they equate literacy education with school. Two new directions in adult literacy program development are being explored in an effort to make programs more appealing to nonparticipants. The first is connected to program content and the second…

One of the main obstacles to effective faculty evaluation is the inability to reach consensus on the evaluation's intended purpose. On one hand, faculty evaluation has a formative purpose, supporting faculty development, growth, and self-improvement, while it also has a summative purpose in that it provides data to make personnel decisions on…

Popular education is a form of adult education that encourages learners to examine their lives critically and take action to change social conditions. Popular education's goal is to develop people's capacity for social change. Although it may assume diverse forms, popular education usually involves a cycle described as action/reflection/action or…