It is time to rethink charter school authorization. There are approximately 5,000 charter schools in the United States (about 5 percent of schools) and a push from parents and the Department of Education for more. Given that many charters authorized during the initial wave of charter applications have not proven themselves to be any better than…

This article shows how a high school physical education teacher was able to build a curriculum that blends driver education, bicycling skills, and fitness through experiential learning. The article describes the process of developing and gaining administrative support for the curriculum, including acquiring the funding necessary via grants to…

Japan has the highest proportion of older adults in the world. Aging is not only an immediate personal issue but also a salient factor in crucial public policies, such as pensions, health, and long-term care. The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant disaster of March 2011 has highlighted current and emerging issues of a…

Superintendents across the country have shared their frustration with planning initiatives that consume valuable chunks of time and energy without yielding a viable tool to drive improvement and accountability. In this article, the authors provide an example that reflects the actual experience of a school district whose identity they are shielding…

A qualitative grounded theory approach is utilized to study the academic and career trajectories of twenty African American male collegiate students living in San Bernardino, California. There is limited research that explores the positive educational experiences of young adult African American males. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate advocacy influences that may impact school arts programs using data from the 2009-10 National Center for Education Statistics elementary and secondary school surveys on arts education. Regression models were employed to assess the relative effectiveness of variables representing community support,…

This piece explores questions of power, conflict, and community in education through a story of Chicago educators engaging in experiential inquiry processes. One of these processes is a "Theatre of the Oppressed" exercise for dealing with conflict in education settings. The other process described here focuses on a text that emerged from…

Drawing on data from six communities in Kansas and Iowa, we explore the factors that are related to community members' current levels of overall support for local ethanol plants. What are residents' opinions about the benefits and drawbacks of local ownership of ethanol plants? How does that awareness lead to overall support of plants? Our…

Parents accustomed to a free and appropriate public education for their special children are shocked to find that there is no comparable housing assistance program when it is time for their adult children to finish school and leave home. An adult child's SSI income is usually less than the average monthly apartment rent in his neighborhood, so…

In this report, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) highlight instructional and community-based strategies for strong public schools in Georgia. The authors offer eight essential, evidence-based strategies for success: (1) Access to high quality early childhood and pre-K education; (2)…

Drawing on a participatory study of the Perplex City alternate reality game, this paper considers the data obtained through participation and a detailed survey of the most engaged players, in order to determine the most engaging features and suggest methods for their transfer to educational contexts. Originally presented at a conference in 2008,…

The identification and recruitment of effective school principals who can transform schools in the midst of today's chaotic economic, social, and global environments require a thorough understanding of the research on effective leadership. Current research indicates that principals who exhibit transformational leadership and, most recently,…

This article challenges the view that citywide referenda alone are an effective means of ensuring accountability for mayoral control. Through new empirical analysis of the referenda results in Boston and Cleveland, the article shows that rather than establish genuine democratic legitimacy, the referenda in fact mask strong class-based, and in…

The goal of this research was to examine the role of supportive adults to emotional well-being in a population of Grade 4 students attending public schools in Vancouver, Canada. Reflecting the ecology of middle childhood, we examined the extent to which perceived family, school, and neighborhood support relate to young people's self-reported…

Little research has been conducted on women living with HIV with a focus on caregiving. This paper explores data that emerged in a study examining caregiving networks among people living with HIV in the Prairies in Canada. Photovoice provided a methodology for data collection. The narratives presented suggest that while these women's lives are…