Education beyond high school is generally considered important for access to good jobs. Education is also a route to civic incorporation; people with more years of education tend to be more engaged in community affairs. This working paper looks at the educational progress over four years of a national sample of young adults and the relationship…

Ipswich, with about 2,200 students, is one of the many school districts in Massachusetts. Ipswich is governed by an open town meeting at which every registered voter may speak and vote. Budgets in Ipswich are highly detailed public documents in which every salary, classroom, and operating expenditure is identified. The budget book provides…

While many state and local governments are gravitating towards alternative sources of revenue for public services and schools, Georgia, a growing sun-belt state, has taken a leading role in allowing voters the choice of selecting a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) to fund local projects, particularly school facilities (known as…

The recommitment of public education to its civic roots has revived discussion on how to engage younger generations of citizens in electoral politics and civic life. This randomized trial of 1,670 high school students in 80 social studies classrooms evaluates the impact of an election-based civics program on students' civic knowledge, skills, and…

In this article, the authors share an approach to enriching student learning through building on relationships among faculty, student affairs educators, and administrators. As their examples suggest, campuses where academic and student affairs educators work together most effectively have broad representation on campuswide committees and other…

University classes in Mathematics are traditionally perceived to be uninspiring and devoid of active student-lecturer communication. Large undergraduate classes further compound the difficulty of engaging students and enabling viable student-lecturer feedback. At the Mathematics Education Centre, Loughborough University, some staff members have…

On Sunday, May 29, 2005, the French Republic endured one of the greatest political shocks in its recent history. By a wide margin, the TCE (Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe) was defeated in a referendum, effectively paralyzing the process of European political integration while simultaneously crippling both the ruling Union Pour le…

Given the low turnout among younger voters, it is important to seek innovative ways of engaging students in the electoral process, and a presidential year like this one offers exciting opportunities for doing so. In this article, the author describes her experiences with a schoolwide project designed by herself and colleagues that simulates the…

This article looks at various cases of the Supreme Court's most recent term. In contrast to the 2006-2007 term when the Supreme Court was regularly split 5-4, during this last term, the justices have formed surprising coalitions in cases considered highly controversial. For example, it was the so-called liberal bloc's Justice Stevens who wrote the…

The purpose of the study was to examine decision-making practices of trustees in good private, independent schools by studying and analyzing the structure of their governing boards, thus providing insight into their leadership practices. A multiple choice survey questionnaire and personal interviews were utilized to glean information from a sample…

In 1964, the Freedom Summer Project brought nearly one thousand volunteers to the South, most of which were northern white students, to facilitate Black voter registration. Allowing northern Whites to take part in the Movement created a tension within the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as "two principal concerns were whether they…

Approximately one quarter of U.S. students do not graduate from high school with their peers. Failing to complete high school severely limits opportunities for employment and future financial stability. High school dropouts earn lower wages through their lifetime and work for fewer years. The costs to society of high school dropouts are also high…

This year's rollercoaster primary elections and the pending national election, with an anticipated record voter turnout, provide the perfect backdrop for an examination of the questions: (1) Who can vote?; and (2) Who will vote? Historically, the American government refused voting rights to various groups based on race, gender, age, and even…

A paramount duty of education is to prepare young people for their role as citizens in a democratic society. Voting is one of the important responsibilities of a citizen but statistics indicate that young people often don't vote and don't believe they have a stake in the outcome of the presidential election. Storypath is a teaching strategy that…

Author believes that civic responsibility at an early age leads to social involvement and political participation for youth. (Author/AF)