Securing meaningful involvement in service development and provision can be seen as a particular challenge for people with learning difficulties. The National Health Service & Community Care Act [(1990) HMSO, ISBN 0105419907] and more recently Valuing People [Department of Health (2001) "Valuing people: a new strategy for learning…

The authors report a study in which they examined how principals utilize instructional leadership in high schools within a Hispanic majority context. The emphasis was on students' academic performance, goal development and implementation, school culture, and instructional management, which make up the broader theoretical framework of school…

This article presents a conceptual framework that was developed to guide a national evaluation of the American Legacy Foundation's (Legacy) Statewide Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use (SYMATU) program. This program was designed to develop youth-led, youth-directed initiatives within local communities. Two evaluation studies were designed and…

As the end of the 2002-2003 school year drew near, the author began to reflect on her first year as a vice principal. Her first year had been exciting and adventurous, although it started quite differently from most: she had the opportunity of opening a brand new school while working under the outstanding leadership of Marian White-Hood, the…

If effects of education reforms in the future are similar to effects of education reforms in the past, it may take between 65 and 780 years to close racial achievement gaps in math and science (Taylor, in preparation). From a review of the literature, I found that educational reforms, directed toward eliminating achievement differences associated…

Empowering women and allowing them to provide community leadership in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex society is essential. Offering a sound family science curriculum is one way to facilitate empowerment of women in a developing country. Conceptualizing, planning, and developing strong programs became an opportunity to review existing…

The authors present core ideas or constructs that might be integral to a feminist and multicultural model of consultation. According to the model, the structure of consultation is (a) nonhierarchical and (b) an open triad (incorporating extrapersonal and outside factors). The process of consultation is (c) culturally responsive and (d) empowering.…

In this paper, I discuss some research findings regarding the characteristics that democratic schools appear to have in common. These commonalities seem to have contributed to their status as being seen as reputable democratic schools. For the purposes of the reported study, schools that were diverse in their philosophical approaches to education…

Using "visual narrative" theoretically and practically, this paper explores issues of inclusive education, during a period of curriculum reform and renewal in Australia. In Australia, the middle years of schooling, Years 5 to 9, are well researched and known as a period when students disengage with learning and participation in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of leadership in a Missouri rural K-8 school with a high incidence of poverty that consistently met federal and state accountability mandates. The concepts of accountability as measured by student achievement, the unique educational needs of children from poverty, and the…

DRACON (DRAma for CONflict management) is an interdisciplinary and comparative action research project aimed at improving conflict handling among adolescent schoolchildren through the use of educational drama. The main purpose of our research has been to develop an integrated programme using conflict management as the theory and practice, and…

This paper revisits the question of "voice" in the context of neo-liberal social and educational reform. "Voice" has been one of the key concepts of feminist and critical pedagogies in the theory and practice of producing social transformation. I argue in this paper, that the political effectiveness of this concept needs to be…

Beginning in the 1990s, the education departments of Hong Kong and Shanghai began to actively initiate reform with a focus on the quality of education. In reviewing the implementation of educational reform in these two societies, we found that Hong Kong teachers tended to only adopt those policies which they felt were beneficial for students'…

The Specialized Training of Military Parents, better known by many as STOMP, is a federally funded Parent Training and Information (PTI) center established to assist military families who have children with specialized education or health needs. STOMP exists to empower military parents, individuals with disabilities, and service providers with…

The ideas presented in this book are drawn from a study of highly successful principals of schools affiliated with the League of Professional Schools. Chapter 1, "Sharing Governance," presents an overview of the literature on professional development and a description of the study. Chapter 2, "Trusting the Experts: Teachers,"…