This article considers the indigenization of democracy in India by conceptualizing participatory deliberative decision-making practice as a tool to strengthen the functioning of local schools and to enhance democratic responsiveness within communities. Drawing on case-studies of bottom-up approaches to school governance, this study examines an…

During a period of financial difficulty, presidents and chief financial officers can be tempted to restrict the flow of information and to discuss financial exigencies only with senior staff members, so that board members and people throughout the campus do not become worried. However, it is better to get the facts out rather than to allow…

This paper contributes to the growing body of research on participatory democracy and the literature on associational democracy by exploring the impact that institutional reforms have on local-level configurations of civil society. In the 1980s a wide range of participatory experiments were initiated in Brazil, most notably Participatory Budgeting…

This paper distinguishes two pathways in the various proposals for innovative reforms of public sector agricultural extension. The two "pathways" involve the participatory trends toward democratization and farmer association and, in contrast, the push toward capitalistic commercial attitudes toward agriculture as business. The introduction reviews…

The authors have been investigating universities in their own countries for many years and are now turning their attention to exploring alternatives to current reforms. As part of these investigations, they spent two days of interviews and meetings at Mondragon, a town in Gipuzkoa in the Spanish Basque Country. Mondragon is at the centre of one of…

In the United Kingdom, the higher education landscape has undergone a transformation since the late 1980s as seen in the "massification" of higher education and the "quality revolution". These changes have resulted in an increased sense of accountability, to principle stakeholders: the government, the taxpayer and students…

While there is preliminary evidence supporting the use of collaborative problem solving teams in schools (e.g., Telzrow, McNamara, & Hollinger, 2000) only a few outcome measures have been explored in relation to these procedures, and the results have been inconsistently demonstrated across projects (Burns & Symington, 2002). Additionally, it has…

Collective, not individual, leadership in schools has a greater impact on student achievement; when principals and teachers share leadership responsibilities, student achievement is higher; and schools having high student achievement also display a vision for student achievement and teacher growth. Those are just a few of the insights into school…

The ability to distract has put the use of laptops, netbooks, cell phones, PDAs, iPod/MP3 players, and portable game players on the banned list in many schools. Educators are discovering that students are more interested in online resources, such as Facebook, game sites, chat, and YouTube, than classroom lectures and textbook chapters about the…

This study describes the professional development experience in one high school in which participants worked over a four-year period to share responsibility in the design of a teacher induction program. The article explores the salient features of an ideal induction program by examining purpose, organization, and delivery. The author concludes…

Adult and community educators have always seen themselves as agents of change, building people's confidence, sense of community and ability to take part in society as well as their knowledge and skills. All the main political parties in the UK have put issues of social justice, social mobility and citizens' empowerment near the top of the policy…

Introduction: Defined as reviews of clinical aspects of a specific health problem published in peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed medical journals, offered without charge, continuing medical education (CME) articles form a key strategy for translating knowledge into practice. This study assessed CME articles for mention of evidence-based…

This study implemented an exploratory mixed-methods design to better understand how the characteristics of a principal, specifically the strategies, behaviors, and actions, lead to the perception of empowerment as perceived by the teachers themselves. An expert panel identified three "highly successful" principals assigned to elementary…

Much of the earlier research on women in leadership has told the stories of White women. Since there are very low numbers of superintendents of color both male and female nationwide, there have been very few stories reported of women leaders of color (Brunner & Grogan, 2007). This article describes the leadership issues involved when one Black…

In this article, the authors consider the strengths and weaknesses of digital media in the organization of student activism, and how educators can better assist and advise student activists using digital media to create improved learning opportunities. To gain a perspective on the relative strengths and challenges of online media in regard to…