Discusses the role of story-telling in the political empowerment of the oppressed. Describes how the uncritical reliance on stories has led to the failure in the classroom to acknowledge the risks taken by various oppressed groups when they attempt to critically reflect and build coalitions. (JB)

Considers experiences of over 200 women, in eight countries, involved in nonformal education, and results of selected nonformal education programs offered by governments, nongovernmental organizations, and educational institutions across the Caribbean and South Pacific. Uses a participatory approach in order to involve the women in analysis of the…

The Indian Children's Parliament (Rajastan, India) emerged from the Social Work and Research Centre (later known as the Barefoot College), which provides academic and vocational classes at night for rural working children. These children contribute to family incomes, but previously their opinions were not acknowledged. Students elect 17 Parliament…

The Peruvian national indigenous federation established a bilingual, intercultural teachers' training program to counter stereotypes of indigenous people portrayed in the authoritarian, monolingual Spanish national curriculum, and to enhance language preservation, ethnic mobilization, and cultural survival. A complementary transitional bilingual…

Discusses implications of the Technology-Related Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities Act (1988, 1994) for people with learning disabilities. It discusses the rationale for the act; its provisions and goals; and systems change and advocacy activities of state projects concerning policy analysis, funding, interagency collaboration, consumer…

Teachers and students must become empowered to be active participants in educational improvement and school decision making. They need opportunities to develop professionally. Empowered schools and their principals are very different from schools with little empowerment. Their principals understand how to foster empowering environments. Empowered…

Discusses the importance of preparing teachers to be leaders, explaining that the best method is to change teacher preparation curricula to provide explicit education in teacher leadership. The paper describes three preparation programs for teacher leadership, noting that only through partnerships in education will the goal of providing quality…

Examines current proposals and efforts to reform the Russian school system, assessing their prospects for providing an answer to the needs of Russian schools in this era of teacher shortages. The paper discusses new teachers' qualitative and quantitative needs, the teacher education system's response, course organization, and curriculum. (SM)

Examines the connection between an English-in-the-workplace (EWP) class and the linguistic behavior of immigrant women garment factory employees. Results suggest that newly acquired English skills may be reinforcing linguistic behavior that reconstitutes traditional relations between workers and management. However, EWP does not appear to empower…

Outlines 10 areas requiring teacher leadership in schools; discusses benefits for students, teachers, the school, and the principal; and lists impediments (workload, time, testing constraints, colleagues' disapprobation, and unsupportive principals). Determined, goal-driven teachers have the power to unlock one another's leadership potential and…

George Mason University, Virginia, prepares teachers through a professional development school model, which empowers teachers to assume leadership roles as clinical faculty and site coordinators. Classroom teachers and the former Director of Teacher Education describe the effects of teachers' experiences as teacher educators on their roles within…

An Appalachian college professor describes his efforts to merge political activism, scholarship, and teaching, and offers some thoughts on transformative education that prepares students for their role in a democratic society. An important approach to transformative education is service learning programs that incorporate local issues and politics…

This article describes a pilot program, initiated in 1999 by Smoky Hill High School in Colorado, to help gifted students overcome barriers to their success. The program addresses issues in all components or subsystems of a person's life: emotional/psychological, mental/intellectual, physical, spiritual, social, and family. Tips for parents are…

Dichotomy between students' attitudes and their actions is highlighted in data collected by Cooperative Institutional Research Program that shows students' interest in keeping up with politics is declining just as their participation in volunteerism is rising. Author interviews Paul Rogat Loeb, author of "Soul of the Citizen," about potential…

This grounded theory qualitative study investigated the major influencing factors in the United States that empowered six Vietnamese women who had been in abusive relationships to take actions, to make changes in their intimate relationships, unlike many of their abused counterparts in their homeland. Interviews of two focus group sessions,…