One Canadian school district, seeking to help ease the anxiety, stress, and depression issues their teens reported, piloted a program to include students in school climate survey data analysis. Small groups of teenagers, staff, and administrators from the district's schools meet twice a year to discuss the data and real-world solutions to bring…

When a community's demographics change quickly in terms of racial, religious, or ethnic makeup, Wessler notes, tension surfaces. Schools are the likeliest place for these kinds of tensions to openly come to a head. Schools can't always avoid conflicts among students who feel mutual prejudice and suspicion. But schools can address simmering…

It's a challenge for schools in every country: How to provide the right kind of discipline and create a climate that nurtures learning. This challenge may look different in different countries. A school's disciplinary climate not only is the product of educators' beliefs and actions, students' beliefs and actions, and the interaction of these, but…

The Starting School Research Project in Australia collected data from children, parents, and teachers to find out what they consider important as students start school--and how transition programs can help. A set of guidelines is provided for school programs that promote effective transition. (Author/MLF)

Describes a Singapore principal's turnaround strategy to improve his secondary students' academic performance and study habits. Principal Tong Pak Goh won students back from McDonald's and other distractions by creating an atmosphere of care and casual comfort, holding afterschool tutoring sessions for problem and latchkey kids, and counseling…

A member of the research team that reported characteristics of unusually effective London (England) high schools discusses how educators can use the findings to improve their own schools. (Author/MLF)

Toronto is creating a miniature knowledge-building society, using Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) software. Part of the Canada-wide TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence, CSILE links diverse participants, including schoolchildren and parents; teacher education and medical students; museum, engineering, science…

Students and teachers in the Virtual Classroom Program at an Ottawa, Ontario, high school connect in real time with peers and experts from around the world. Students collaboratively select interdisciplinary topics, conduct research using online databases and experts, and create oral and multimedia presentations. (MLH)

South Africa and Namibia, two countries building young democracies, face the task of transforming their public education systems to support the values articulated in their new constitutions. This article describes a project designed to incorporate these values into schools. A group of 50 Namibian teachers, who were enrolled in the author's…