This book describes how the U.S. can radically improve not only individual schools but its overall system of education. The book examines the lessons of history and the expanding knowledge of what works in schools and classrooms, and it describes how school reforms might transform education presumptions and policies so that the education system…

This document contains 24 teacher authored lessons focusing on citizenship and citizenship education. The book is organized by grade level with elementary lessons at the beginning and high school lessons at the end, although several lessons can be adapted to all levels. Each lesson begins with an abstract that gives an overview of the lesson. In…

In order to foster the kind of learning environment that promotes decision-making and thinking skills, educators need to take a values approach to teaching. There are three main approaches to values teaching: (1) the product approach, which concentrates on outcomes as "fixed" values, "core" values, or "moral basics";…

This study examined the potential of service learning in reform-oriented social studies teacher education, focusing on how service learning influenced one preservice teacher's understanding of social studies as a form of democratic civic education. The preservice teacher's service learning experience was incorporated into his field-placement…

Examines how negative views of government and the public sector are affecting educational governance. Reviews social and political trends undermining support for public schools. Presents a new definition of governance that realistically portrays the politics of educational leadership by acknowledging the roles of public and private sectors,…

Reviews the provisions of the recent Dayton Peace Accords, the partial and competing strategies for building peace, and the still simmering ethnic conflicts in Bosnia. Examines postelection efforts at nation-building including the CIVITAS Project, an educational mission working to develop the foundations for democratic institutions. (MJP)

Will greater school choice result in more responsive, higher quality schools and happier parents? Or will proliferating options further sort students and families by race, social class, and special interest? Increasingly, education is viewed as a private good. If parents become autonomous, self-interested consumers, erosion of common purposes and…

Participants who attended three national alternative education conferences in Japan, Indiana, and Israel report on their experiences at the conferences and issues addressed, including freedom versus license, responsibility to poor children, funding for alternative education programs, democratic education, government role, and varying and…

Examines the various ways that social sciences can promote the social and governmental transformative process in Eastern Europe. Defines three functions of social sciences: to reveal real processes, to understand and diagnose problems, and to foresee future trends. Discusses the tensions among social scientists and policy makers and politicians.…

Examines connections between democratization of schooling and three dimensions of social structure: political system and governance, wealth/poverty, and gender relations. Discusses nine processes and strategies for democratization in education: definition of democracy, legislation and policy, decentralization of education, teacher education,…

In a Nova Scotia community where the majority of the children live in poverty, the social concerns of the community are woven throughout the elementary school curriculum, which is taught as extensively as possible through the creative arts. Substantive and potentially controversial issues such as power, equity, and social justice are relevant and…

Identifies four areas of deficiency in understanding and applying the principles of the Bill of Rights. Provides guidelines to improve instruction, emphasizing systematic coverage of Bill of Rights topics; analysis of case studies on Bill of Rights issues; and discussion of Bill of Rights issues in an open classroom environment. (CH)

The most fundamental curriculum question is "What is most worthwhile to know and experience?" A democratic orientation leads to answers to nine other questions relating curriculum planning to a goal of personal and social growth. (nine references) (MLF)

Some important theoretical work done in the field of education/schooling has come close to losing touch with the hard facts of lived experience. Educational theorists must resist making untenable motivational claims for the power of teachers and students which ignore the massively greater power of capital and its allies. (IAH)

Advances a theory incorporating the most useful and transformative aspects of critical pedagogy. Border pedagogy acknowledges the shifting borders that undermine and reterritorialize power and knowledge, and links the educational enterprise with the struggle for a democratic society. Attempts to combine an emancipatory modernism with a…