In 2008, People for Education, an Ontario-based parent-led organization, hosted eight policy dialogues with citizens about possibilities for the province's public schools. Policy dialogues are conversations about policy issues, ideas, processes, and outcomes where participants share their knowledge, perspectives, and experiences. In small groups…

Last summer, the Democracy Imperative and the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, two national networks linking academics and deliberative democracy practitioners, hosted a national conference, No Better Time: Promising Opportunities in Deliberative Democracy for Educators and Practitioners ("No Better Time," 2010). Over 250 civic leaders,…

This paper is concerned with the teacher educator who is aspiring to be inclusive. It considers the obligations which arise within Higher Education Institutions and the extent to which these contribute to a loss of civic engagement and a lack of capacity to pursue inclusion, social justice and equity. The paper argues that this need not be the…

The "twisted cyber spy" affair began in 2010, when Google was attacked by Chinese cyber-warriors charged with stealing Google's intellectual property, planting viruses in its computers, and hacking the accounts of Chinese human rights activists. In the ensuing international embroglio, the US mainstream press, corporate leaders, and White…

This article describes composites of actual students, but examples of hardworking immigrant students and their families can be found in every state. Many young immigrants are negotiating their place in society. They believe in the American Dream and struggle with issues of poverty, language, cultural assimilation, and the desire to further their…

This article presents the author's response to "Tocqueville on Democracy and Inclusive Education: A More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality than of Liberty" written by Steven Connolley and Rune Sarromaa Hausstatter. The author agrees with Connolley and Hausstatter that people need to stop and question the assumptions and values associated with…

The author recounts and analyzes her experiences to incorporate a liberatory practice into a public school setting. The article is comprised of excerpts from a seminar paper she wrote in December of 2001, at the conclusion of her first semester of teaching, interspersed with commentary written from her present perspective. In the sections from the…

In this article, I present the description of the learning and social action that unfolded through critical literacy events in my first grade classroom. Resulting from teacher action research, this critical conscientization process underscores how multicultural children's literature served as enabler of culturally responsive pedagogy. Through the…

Imagine a neighborhood where residents share ownership of all the common areas but privately own their residence. Imagine these residents are a diverse group of individuals of various income levels, abilities, ages, and ethnic backgrounds. Imagine that this unique group of people has planned activities and look out for each other like an extended…

This article defines Active Citizenship within a European context as a broad range of value based participation. It develops a framework for measuring this phenomenon which combines the four dimensions of Protest and Social Change, Community Life, Representative Democracy and Democratic values. The European Social Survey 2002 is used to populate…

The student population in American schools is becoming increasingly diverse; therefore, educators must respond with school reform efforts that benefit all students. However, there is a gap in the knowledge base and practice literatures addressing what specific processes and strategies successful school leaders are using to reform their culturally…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the mission of a community college regarding a change from democratic to capitalistic. A case study methodology was employed by converging on one North Carolina community college. Data were gathered by conducting 4 individual interviews, 3 focus groups, and document analyses. Documents examined included…

This article is an edited version of a speech delivered at the 2009 Mediterranean Association of International Schools (MAIS) Annual Conference in Florence, Italy. In the author's past speeches--in Seville and Rome--he had urged his listeners to use their distinctive power and influence as independent, international educators to advance…

Evidence has emerged that the civic engagement movement in US higher education may not be fulfilling its transformative potential, having lost sight of its core democratic purposes. Civic engagement conceptualised only in terms of activity and place--programmes in communities--may be easily accommodated to prevailing technocratic practices. For…

This article serves to provide theoretical grounding for the five core values of scholar-practitioner leadership and will investigate the cyclical pattern of inquiry-generated knowledge for educational practice. The core values of leadership embrace community, democracy, social justice, caring, and equity. After grounding the core values in…