Positive youth development (PYD) is a strengths-based approach to youth programming which has been tested with success in largely higher income settings with mostly White youth. This study aims to identify the extent to which organizations who work in an urban context serving predominately African American youth incorporate PYD principles into…

Research indicates that a majority of honors students across the country are able to earn honors credit through the fulfillment of honors contracts. These learning contracts grant honors credit to students who perform additional work in non-honors-designated sections of other courses. Despite their popularity, little has been written on the design…

This manuscript explains a civic engagement activity and presents assessment data on the activity.

This study explores the civic thinking heuristics that civic leaders use when pre-planning action. Across eight think-aloud protocols, findings suggest that three heuristics are employed. "Frame alignment" refers to the process of harmonizing personal beliefs and interests with the particulars of a civic action issue to find personal…

This article reports findings from a case study of school principals in Southern Thailand who work in areas targeted by Muslim separatist groups. Data were gathered and analyzed using a conceptual framework that conceived of trust as five interrelated constructs: benevolence, honesty, openness, reliability, and competence. This study builds on…

This report addresses a critical knowledge gap between reconciliation theory and practice in post-conflict settings. Spearheaded by the Center for Applied Research on Conflict at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the larger project goal is to map reconciliation practices to better understand how reconciliation is conceived, what…

Community engagement in natural hazard preparedness is crucial to ensure sustainable initiatives. Children are important members of communities, and can actively contribute to community preparedness. This article presents research undertaken with 11- to 12-year-old students from a school in Auckland, New Zealand, and leaders associated with the…

Sociocultural and socio-economic conditions (e.g. subsistence family farming needs) as well as the absence of nearby public schools result in Ghanaian youth, primarily from rural areas, not receiving formal schooling. Because of this, children may never learn to read and write. One solution is a complementary education programme (CEP) that…

School choice is increasingly the new normal in urban education. But in cities with multiple public school options, how can civic leaders create a choice system that works for all families, whether they choose a charter or district public school? To answer this question, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) researchers surveyed 4,000…

In response to requests from out-of-school time (OST) providers, the authors have created this practitioner's guidebook for integrating adolescent literacy development initiatives into a wide variety of OST programs. As readers will discover in subsequent chapters, the authors' definition of adolescent literacy development represents a…

Background: This study involves 50 participants from a rural county in S.W. Georgia and examines the conditions and settings that existed at the target school as to the increase in student attrition at the alternative school. Purpose: To take a closer look at the student attrition problem in the target school and make contributions to begin to…

A number of items used in the Alabama Right to Read programs are included in this document. One form is a proclamation to be used by the local education agency (LEA) for a ceremony proclaiming Right to Read Week. The 26 criteria of excellence represent the goal toward which the LEA makes a commitment and are also used as the basis for the content…

The development of a checklist was the principal activity of the third part of a 3-phase study examining the potential of cooperative ventures and combination libraries for improving school and public library services in Florida. This report includes the checklist, which was designed for use by community members working with professional library…

A study examined how nonprofit organizations, particularly local education funds, and their leaders address social issues. Local education funds are a set of voluntary, intermediate, and mission-driven organizations at the center of educational and civic capacity building. This report provides the results of the first phase of the Public Education…

The Research-Practice Linkages Project sought to identify the knowledge base supporting community leadership development (CLD) programs of the Cooperative Extension Service and to determine linkages between Extension programs and CLD research. A mail questionnaire was completed by 492 Extension staff involved in CLD programs in 18 states and 42…