Drawing on empirical data from student surveys, as well as insights from faculty and higher education leaders across the country, ACTA's report details how the rapid shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the ongoing free speech crisis on college campuses, further suppressed viewpoint diversity, and encouraged more…

Many school districts have closed public schools, despite opposition. The controversial nature of closures has inspired extensive newspaper coverage. This article addresses two questions: How do newspaper media frame public school closures? To what extent does this coverage fulfill media's democratic functions? I examine coverage of school…

Several authors have proposed that media hype elevates perceptions of risk and fear of crime. Research suggests that fear of crime is related to the overall amount of media consumption, resonance of news reports, how much attention the individual pays to the news, and how credible he or she believes it to be. The present study examines whether the…

An elected school director works every day as an advocate for public education in his community. At each board meeting, crucial decisions that affect the lives and education of children are made as he determines the needs of the students and families he is accountable to. But are those needs being communicated to his elected representatives in…

American companies currently spend $15 billion a year on marketing and advertising to children under the age of 12. Annually, children influence $500 billion in spending on fast food, junk food, toys and other advertised products, and the average child sees thousands of ads on television alone. From video games and the Internet to cell phones and…

This hearing explores the influence of music violence on youth in the District of Columbia. The proceedings include the testimony of witnesses representing the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Political Congress of Black Women, the Thomas Moore Stork Professor of Communications, a Senator…

Uses news stories in "Iere," a Caribbean community newspaper in Washington, DC, to examine the communication and relationship that Caribbean immigrants develop with their native referent groups. The 98 stories reviewed suggest stronger identification with the Caribbean community as a whole than with the specific islands Trinidad and…

Describes a program called MediaSmart designed by the WETA public television station in Washington, D.C. to help students understand the power and influence of the media and to help students become informed, discriminating, and literate media consumers. Explains the three main components: a teacher workshop; classroom instructional materials; and…

Compares three cases in Atlanta, GA, New York state, and Washington, DC, in which advocates fought to have an Afrocentric curriculum implemented in public schools' social studies and history classes. Examines the influences of six local organizational factors on the proposed curricular changes. (CMK)

The first National Drug Control Strategy set ambitious two and five-year performance based goals: (1) to lower the rate of drug use by 10 percent over 2 years among both youth and adults; and (2) to lower the rate by 25 percent over 5 years. The chapters in this updated version are keyed to the strategies three priorities: (1) Stopping Use Before…