In this paper, the author provides a buffet of ideas to make a coherent case for a democracy in which citizens can be truly sovereign by becoming the agents of their own destiny. He traces the history of various trends which threaten the development of civic agency: technocracy, specialism, and a consumer-view of the citizen, among others. He also…

In 2007, the Supreme Court heard a case that involved the question of whether a school district could be required to reimburse parents who unilaterally placed their child in private school when the child had not previously received special education and related services in a public institution ("Board of Education v. Tom F."). The…

The current research study used a developmental-epidemiological approach to examine the prevalence and impact of multiple risks on educational outcomes for an entire population of second grade children in a low-income, urban public school system. The Kids Integrated Data System (KIDS) provided information about children's entire histories of…

Through Service Learning, students learn while serving the community. This "educational approach ties relevant community service to academic content and uses critical reflection activities to strengthen learning and developmental outcomes" (www.csufresno.edu/sl/). Studies have shown (Astin, et.al., 2000; Eyler, et.al., 2001) that Service…

New attention is being paid to graduate education and civic engagement. For decades college campuses have worked diligently to connect undergraduate academic study with public service in order to enhance learning and meet community needs, a connection often referred to as service-learning or civic engagement. This brief explores the importance and…

The election of the Labour Government headed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, on the 1st May 1997 presaged changes to the world of Education in England and Wales which few working inside education had anticipated. Blair, describing himself and the politics he represented as "New Labour", declared that the priority for the incoming…

This textbook is third in a series of readers portraying people who have served their community. This volume focuses on public servants, including the policeman, the postman, the fireman, the street cleaner, the garbage collector, and the ash and rubbish collector. In the study of these various people the threefold idea of dependence,…

The second in a series of three articles comments on training in Local Government, the National Health Service, the Armed Services, and the Civil Service in Great Britain. (EB)

Libraries rely heavily on student workers for the day-to-day running of the library. Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas is no different. We report on Steen Library's training efforts to staff several public service points as well as keep materials on the shelves by cross-training student employees.

This paper argues that the "new world order" achieved at the end of the cold war is in crisis, not generated from the threat of "war" between Christian and Islamic worlds but from "within" western societies, specifically from the growing commercialisation and "privatisation" of social and community life which has uncoupled the systems and…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

This paper reports on a research project investigating the role of universities in South Africa in contributing to poverty reduction through the quality of their professional education programmes. The focus here is on theorising and the early operationalisation of multi-layered, multi-dimensional transformation based on ideas from Amartya Sen's…

In 1993, about 93 percent of respondents previously surveyed in 1992 were reinterviewed as part of a study of the impact of labor market programs in postsocialist Hungary. The surveys investigated the impact of retraining and public service employment (PSE) on labor market success by comparing outcomes for participants to others who were…

A study was conducted of professional socialization, public service values, and political orientations of the state administrators in Kentucky. A sample of 3,000 Kentucky public managers was mailed a six-page self-administered questionnaire in three waves. A response rate of 49 percent generated 1,467 usable questionnaires. About 69 percent of the…

The theory of student involvement (Astin, 1984) acknowledges that as students devote sufficient time and energy to educationally purposeful activities, they can expect to make desirable gains throughout the college years. Participation in campus clubs and organizations is one form of involvement found to be associated with a host of learning and…