Neglect of divergent cultural values and belief systems; perennial debates about moral, ethical, and legal questions; power struggles; and technically oriented initiatives have thwarted school-reform efforts. Initiating frequent policy changes to accommodate fads overlooks the slowness of change and the learning process in complex social…

The Manitoba School Improvement Program (MSIP) encourages Manitoba high schools to include students in their improvement projects. Through an array of action-oriented, student-centered initiatives, MSIP has come to a new understanding of "student voice" that encompasses various levels of students' engagement in both school improvement…

Principals play a key role in developing teacher leadership. To identify, develop, and support teacher leaders in their schools, principals should define teacher leadership, be comfortable with teacher leaders, encourage teachers to become leaders, help teachers develop leadership skills, and provide positive and limited constructive feedback.…

A 2-year demonstration project funded by the Carnegie Corporation investigated combined effects of interventions involving teachers, students, and parents in a small northeastern district with an increasingly diverse population. Teachers examined racial identities and attitudes toward other groups, and designed effective antiracist curricula…

Describes a United States Department of Commerce (National Telecommunications and Information Administrations, NTIA, 1995) study of home Internet use by Low-income families. The study investigated the barriers, benefits (empowerment), and perceived worth of the Internet and concluded that home Internet access enabled powerful emotional and…

Articulates six local, immediate, and fragmentary forms of client resistance at a Women's Social Service Organization: parodying and refusing confessional practices; fighting bureaucracies and bureaucrats; playing games; breaking rules; bitching; and revisioning relationship. Discusses attendant transformations of organizational practices,…

Explores benefits derived from the "Gardendale Family" (a vertically aligned team of K-6 classrooms in which students remain throughout their elementary school careers). Focuses on ways in which the Gardendale Family has built a strong school-based community within which family/parent involvement is crucial. (SR)

Investigates students' perceptions on learning through Web technology. Results suggest that Web-based instruction permitted the students to control their own learning and empower individual learning activities; provided meaningful learning and flexible practice; and provided greater accessibility to learning materials. Concerns and suggestions by…

Investigated teacher retention and attrition by examining data from the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey and 1991-92 Teacher Followup Survey. Results indicated that teachers with less experience were more likely to move or leave. Empowerment and higher salary were correlated positively with teacher retention. Appreciation of the intrinsic…

A participatory research project examined the transformative process that a first-grade two-way Spanish immersion classroom underwent to build a community of learners. Drawing on a critical pedagogy framework, the teacher provided daily opportunities to engage young students in dialogue to develop their voices and created a literacy-rich…

Contrasts teacher educators' desires to change student teachers' beliefs and values with their need to foster professional autonomy. Suggests that there exists an unrecognized 'indoctrination dilemma' inherent in preservice teacher education and concludes by pointing to the need for teacher educators to re-examine their intentions. (Contains 29…

Reports on the Improving Education Quality Project in Uganda, which sought to improve primary education by using participatory action research to involve and empower teacher and community participants. Discusses the complexities and dilemmas of moving toward participatory ways within the context of Ugandan society, and how dialogue among all…

The multi-age teams (MATs) at one Georgia middle school fostered continuous, individual student progress unachievable in more conventional classrooms. In MAT groups, assignments to classes were based on students' interests, abilities, performance, and other maturational factors, regardless of chronological age. Opportunities for remediation and…

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences challenges narrow concepts of student talent and ability. This article applies this theory to the challenge of educating students with learning behavior disabilities. Reaching these young people and engaging them in learning can help them understand that intelligence comes in many forms. (Author)

This article describes methods used by one school district to promote self-advocacy skills for students with learning disabilities. Through multicomponent group activities, students learned about their strengths and disabilities and how to advocate for educational needs and rights. Advocacy skills were applied to leadership roles, mentoring, and…