In 1963, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee established Freedom Schools as part of civil-rights undertakings to assist African Americans in Mississippi. Results of the curriculum conference that created the alternative summer-school program may help educators implement critical pedagogy in today's schools. Contains 61 references. (MLH)

The editors chose character education as the theme for this "School Administrator" special issue because it undergirds school leaders' true mission: creation of community, advocacy for children, and preservation of democracy through public education. Authors tackle numerous topics, from the need to recapture a sense of civic duty and…

Discusses the issue of purpose in teacher education, explaining that teaching, unlike most other professions, has varied perceptions and assumptions regarding its purpose and nature. A 1980s study found that most preservice teachers had not discussed the purpose of schooling within a democracy during any of their classes. Examines the importance…

Invaded by candy manufacturers, sneaker companies, and fast food chains, schools increasingly promote a commercial culture. As commercial culture replaces public culture, the language of the market substitutes for the language of democracy. Educators, families, and communities must reinvigorate the language, social relations, and politics of…

Transcribes a conversation between Dieter Misgeld and Abraham Magendzo on human rights education. Misgeld envisions a moral climate based on the preservation of human rights while Magendzo articulates a vision of human rights education to produce democratic institutions and moral practice. Both call for a political analysis of moral education.…

Discusses whether school choice benefits students who do and do not receive vouchers, noting how choice affects integration and democratic ideals. Overall, there are important benefits for families participating in choice programs. Choice does not cream off the best students. Educational vouchers may influence public schools to improve. Private…

Successful school/community partnerships incorporate three elements: reciprocity, democratic processes, and access to varied opportunities. Principals can create sound partnerships by looking first to teachers, making schools family-friendly, reaching into their communities, seeking increased responsibility by families, and understanding mutual…

Examined the relationship between a host of family characteristics and indicators of adolescent competence in 107 eighth and ninth graders in Orissa state, India. Families of more socially competent students tended to be verbally and emotionally expressive, and democratic with respect to discipline, input, and decision making. (SLD)

England's Education Action Zones and their forums seek to draw together diverse constituencies to develop and implement local plans for school improvement, thereby empowering parents and communities. This article, based on interviews with EAZ applicants and directors, explores EAZ's imperfectly realized potential to democratize schooling.…

The focus of this article is on the role that content and concepts drawn from the field of economics should play in education for self-government. How important is economic knowledge for the practice of effective citizenship in a democratic society such as the United States, and what core economic knowledge is required for effective civic…

This essay stems from previously reported critical ethnographic data regarding educators participating in graduate-level classes on whiteness. The metaphor of "faces of whiteness" is adopted here to signify that individuals occupy particular stances toward White privilege and its consequences in a dynamic and nonlinear fashion. The Torpified face…

Although many agree that theory, research, and practice should be intertwined to support the type of schooling (and society) that values rather than marginalizes, few scholars offer ground-breaking, pragmatic approaches to developing truly transformative leaders. From a critical theorist perspective, this article offers a practical,…

Research on parent-teacher relationships tends to relegate parents to visitor roles in schools and to reinforce student achievement as the primary goal of parent-teacher relationships. This article argues for the recognition of the importance of talk among parents and teachers both as a research methodology and as a desirable outcome in creating…

Recognizing the increasingly racially and ethnically diverse politically disengaged population along with the central role of schools in preparing democratic citizens, this study investigated how 3 skilled secondary social studies teachers taught about and for multicultural democracy to prepare students for active and effective citizenship through…

We describe a democratic citizen model of community organizing for mobilizing and partnering with families, using the overscheduling of children as a case example. We provide an overview of the growing body of research on this aspect of family time, describe the difference between a citizen model and program models for working with families, give…