Today there has been a shift in the organizational structure in our schools (Murphy and Seashore Louis, 1999). These include educational leadership shifts in roles, relationships, and responsibilities; the alteration of traditional patterns of relationships; and the fact that authority tends to be less hierarchical. Senge (1990) believes systems…

This article discusses the idea of the "safe school" juvenile delinquency prevention model as a paradigm of bringing together all of the community participants, in order to bring about ways and means through which community problems could be met and solved. It suggests that in free and democratic societies, the consent of all participant…

Phase one of the IEA Civic Study was designed for fourteen-year-old students. In Denmark this included students from the eighth and ninth grades although civics is not part of the required curriculum until grade nine. Students' answers to questions concerning civic knowledge were collected together with information related to student attitudes,…

This paper examines and compares the recent emphases in school education and school leadership training in Australia and the state of Tasmania as they relate to the democratic purposes of schools. It finds a strong emphasis on the democratic purposes of schools and congruence between these purposes and the means of achieving them, in respect of…

This paper examines the contributions of Deborah Partridge Wolfe, a previously overlooked female African-American educator, to social education. Throughout her career, Wolfe consistently drew attention to issues of democracy, diversity, and equity through her teaching, curriculum development, scholarly writings, speeches, government service, and…

The Agenda Setting Model is a program component that can be used in courses to contribute to students' development as responsible, effective, and informed citizens. This model involves students in finding a unified voice to assert an agenda of issues that they find especially pressing. This is often the only time students experience such a…

The British "Index for Inclusion" was selected to be used in three primary schools in the Western Cape Province in South Africa in order to develop a South African model to assist in the development of inclusive schools. The "Index for Inclusion" process entails progression through a series of five developmental phases and this…

This report summarizes the views and attitudes toward higher education of 43 leaders from Detroit (Michigan), Memphis (Tennessee), Cherry Hill (New Jersey), and San Antonio (Texas). The study found that the leaders' views were nearly opposite of those held by the American public as reported in two related publications. These community leaders know…

There are more than 100 democracies in the world today. All but three of them--Great Britain, Israel, and New Zealand --have written constitutions. This digest examines the importance of constitutions and constitutionalism and the teaching of these concepts through the use of comparisons. The primary objectives of civic education for democratic…

The challenge of "ruralizing" teacher preparation programs is to teach teachers to think with sufficient critical intent to violate professional norms that have been unhealthy for rural schools and communities. Universities are institutions with cosmopolitan rather than local purposes. Over the centuries, the mission of higher education…

This book illustrates how educators in four U.S. communities committed themselves to preparing students for the democratic way of life. In four narratives, educators directly involved in four different school-reform efforts describe how they initiated demographic practices in their educational settings. The four schools serve as reminders that…

This curriculum presents an overview of responsibility as a concept intrinsic to the functioning of a democratic society. The curriculum has been developed to provide students with an increased awareness of the importance of responsibility in their own lives and its place in contemporary society, and to encourage their capacity and inclination to…

Prepared to assist teachers who are using the case in class discussion, this case study describes a suburban, college-preparatory high school located in the pseudonymously named "Northwood," a midwestern "rust belt" city characterized by rapidly shifting demographics and a growing commercial tax base. Although the city is now…

Information about the French policy of government aid to private schools is presented in this report to promote understanding in the United States of the pluralist dilemma raised by the private school aid issue. An historical longitudinal policy evaluation involved document analysis and interviews with 16 French policy actors. The French policy is…

Designed to provide direction to secondary teachers involved in citizenship education, this guide focuses on citizenship responsibility in electing public officials and on legal obligations of members of a democratic society. The material is divided into nine sections. Introductory letters and acknowledgements are followed by a detailed curriculum…