Archbishop Mar Ivanios (1882-1953) was a visionary and his educational vision has relevance for today. He emancipated the socially marginalized and disenfranchised people of his time through his educational vision and practice. This article is the story of a small community of Christians and their leader who made a difference in their society.…

In this essay, Kathleen Knight Abowitz makes the case that charter schooling can enable multiple publics to develop and create educational visions. Charter schooling policies can enable these publics to pursue these visions and agendas on behalf of both public and common educational goals as well as goals associated with particular identities and…

Fourth grade students at a public elementary school in Houston, Texas, participated in a one-week exercise intended to mimic the process of creating a public good through a democratic process. The exercise involved students in four separate classes designing a class party with different characteristics (theme, music, and food) through a voluntary…

Alfie Kohn made the case for competition being destructive to education. The truth may be that there are two separate ways to contest: true competition, which is a healthy desire to excel, and decompetition, which is the unhealthy desire merely to beat the opponent. Decompetition leads to the ills that Kohn enumerated. Educators should teach their…

This paper developed a Democratic Classroom Survey to measure students' perceived democratic environment of the classroom. Perceived democratic environment is one of the most important variables for understanding classroom activity and indeed any type of group activity, but actually measuring perceptions in an objective manner has been…

This study explores the role of competing discourses that shape current practices in U.S. schools and how professional development efforts can support teachers and researchers in finding ways to reinsert more democratic processes into their collaborative work. We examine the case of one research and professional development project with the goal…

Extending democracy into schools so that every child has the opportunity to achieve is the topic of many books and conversations. The three Latina superintendents who coauthored this book do more than discuss the issue of equity in education--they live it. They grew up affected by it, taught students who needed it, and changed the minds of those…

Modern agriculture poses ecological problems and opportunities, which defy simple democratic reform without an educated citizenry. Developing an educated citizenry can be accomplished by further developing agricultural literacy in elementary education. While benchmarks for agricultural literacy have been produced, relatively little attention has…

The strengths and limitations of approaches to participatory and democratic practice rooted in voice have been discussed in relation to education and also "youth voice". The paper seeks to make critical connection between the two debates, especially in relation to the persistence of practices of exclusion and marginalisation. Drawing on…

In these complicated new times, many new teachers begin their careers in urban and other schools with increasingly diverse student populations. And as people know, many new teachers leave those schools--and some leave teaching altogether--after just a few years in the field. In today's world, policy makers, politicians, educational leaders, the…

Scholars have long argued that civic organizations play a vital role in developing members' civic capacity. Yet few empirical studies examine how and the extent to which civic skills transfer across distinct and separate civic contexts. Focusing on Latino immigrant members of a Los Angeles janitors' labor union, this article fills a void by…

Lately, a deliberative conception of democracy has gained influence in policy debates throughout Europe. Individuals are here seen to be fostered into responsible, mature--democratic--citizens by being involved in dialogue. In the 1990s, calls for "democratic education" intensified in Sweden. This article analyses two pedagogical models…

This study investigated democratic values of pre-service English language teachers in relation to their teacher self-efficacy perceptions in a Turkish context. It also examined the possible relationships between gender, grade and democratic values and self-efficacy perceptions. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 294 pre-service teachers.…

This review of literature explores current research addressing political bias in higher education. The perception of a pervasive liberal political bias in academia is addressed first. This discussion focuses on the debate surrounding the Academic Bill of Rights, a document that outlines principles defending students' academic freedom and advocates…

In this paper, the author discusses the necessary elements of civic engagement in teacher education and responsibility for schools. For over 50 years, John Goodlad conducted research, created an institute to study education in a democratic society, and formed 25 partnership sites to engage in research and practice. The National Network for Renewal…