Purpose: The Santa Ana Unified School District received an i3 grant (Investing in Innovation; funded by the U.S. Department of Education Grant number U411C160074) to build on their existing school climate practices. Called the Enhanced Positive School Climate Model, the aim is to improve school climate, student-adult relationships, create social…

There is growing recognition that identity formation must become an important focus in education. Particularly in the 21st century, when modes of knowledge construction and accessibility to different types of knowledge are rapidly increasing and diversifying, academic learning cannot be divorced from students' development of values, goals, social…

This article investigates students' perceptions of their experience with arts education and their perceptions of its impact on their academic achievement and academic goals. Specifically, it relates to academic achievement, goals, cognition, and students' perceptions. Educational outcomes and policy issues are also reviewed as they related to the…

This chapter attempts to survey contemporary debates and research on outcomes of schooling that have been grouped together under the convenient label "nonacademic". This is not an affirmative labeling. As the nomenclature indicates, it is not a label that groups together things that share like properties. Rather, this is a label of…

The theme of growth is amongst the most important and pervasive themes in the philosophy of Charles Peirce. This paper offers a synthesized account of the Peircean self drawn from his various discussions of the growth of ideas and then presents three educational orientations which, in turn, tend to foster or frustrate this growth. It concludes…

Author looks at some adult literacy work being done with gypsies. (Editor/RK)

Although helping students achieve academically is a major goal of public education, children come to school with a wide variety of needs and therefore should be treated as whole people rather than as detached receptacles for academic knowledge. A critical issue is the departure of adults from children's lives. What can schools do to promote a more…

The author notes that teachers who continually require students to sit still and stop talking apparently prefer to teach a grove of trees rather than a classroom full of students. School environments should be designed to enhance the development of student brains -- and student brains are about movement, not motionless stagnation. 21st century…

A study of the perceptions of one Canadian medical school's curriculum planners concerning the medical school as a learning environment is reported, and the relationship of the findings to a larger study concerning student personal and educational development within that environment is discussed. (MSE)

The purpose of education in the United States has been linked to democracy throughout its history. An analysis of the tradition of linking education to democratic purpose and practice is presented here. The research was derived, in part, from an earlier study that postulated three conceptions of democracy: liberal, participatory, and community.…

In an extract from his book the author defined the role of an "open" teacher. (Editor/RK)

In March 1974, "Instructor" interviewed Wilson Riles, California's Superintendent of Public Instruction. At that time, the state's ambitious Early Childhood Education program had not yet completed its first year. Now "Instructor" takes another look. What is the program? What has it accomplished? What are people saying about it?…

This paper examines some of the most recent conceptual developments in invitational education. Using some of the new ideas presented in Inviting School Success, Second Edition (Purkey and Novak, in press), a more expansive definition and application of invitational education is offered. New concepts such as theory of practice, stance, and…

A school principal described the atmosphere and total commitment that has made her school and its members into a family. (RK)