Ambassador training is an exemplary leadership development program for adult education students, staff, and administrators that creates networks of diverse learners who use their voices, stories, and skills for advocacy and social change. Student engagement and leadership development help learners expand their identities and horizons, define…

In British Columbia (BC), the use of cross-age mentoring programs, commonly referred to as buddy programs, is not systemically evaluated and there are no clear program goals. Although the use of buddy programs is widespread across school districts in BC, research remains scarce regarding both the origins of buddy programs and their purpose.…

"The Leader in Me" (Covey, 2008) is an approach to fostering social and emotional learning that has been adopted by more than 3,000 schools across the globe, but which has received relatively little empirical attention. Grounded in the seven habits from Stephen Covey's (1989)" The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", the…

During a sabbatical semester in Fall 2018, "Community Literacy Journal (CLJ)" co-editor Paul Feigenbaum volunteered as a "Scholar-in-Residence" at Youth Enrichment Services (YES), a nonprofit established in 1994 that is based in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Guided by its mission "to create hope out of…

Background: Obesity continues to afflict adolescents in underserved communities. It is difficult to understand how adolescents perceive empowerment over their health and the health of their communities. The purpose of our study was to describe the impact of the Healthy Heart Ambassador program on adolescents' perceived empowerment through the…

Despite growing scholarly interest in student voice and leadership over the past two decades, both terms continue to be used with little consensus about their meaning. They are also often evoked without much clarity or agreement as to how they should be enabled or enacted, for what purposes they should be fostered, or what conditions are necessary…

Mentorship is empirically related to several desired outcomes in college students including academic success and career development. Yet little is known about how mentorship aids leadership development in college students. This study uses data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, a national study with more than 110,000 participants…

The Focus Group Initiative (FGI) at North Delta Secondary School (NDSS) began in 2001 with the long-term goal of giving the kids an opportunity not only to demonstrate their leadership abilities, but also to use those skills to improve whatever school or community projects they were involved in. Once students were trained to be focus group…

Between 2000 and 2007, six western states conducted individual impact studies using public school youth in grades five, seven, and nine. Common areas of study included: risk behaviors, leadership positions held, helping others, close relationships with adults, self-identity, character, self-confidence, and empowerment. The purpose of the study was…

This article explores students' potential to make a difference to their school through a Students as Researchers programme. It begins by discussing the impetus for the current increase in student voice initiatives in schools. It continues the debate around issues of student empowerment and students' identity as change agents through an analysis of…

Sexual violence is a widespread problem for college communities. Students, faculty, and staff are increasingly involved in prevention efforts. To date, however, evaluation of sexual violence prevention programs has shown mixed results. One promising new practice teaches segments of college communities to be engaged, positive bystanders. It aims to…

This article describes a project that will make a positive impact in today's special education classroom. Teachers will learn how to use Problem Based Learning (PBL) units as a tool to empower students with special needs to become more confident, independent, successful students. It will also shatter the stereotype that students with special needs…