To say an issue is academic can mean it doesn't really matter, not in the real world, anyway. Gary Brown takes a critical look at how higher education has become unreal for many students and what we might do to help re-engage our institutions with the world. (Contains 17 notes.)

Toward the end of the of the twentieth century, the idea that young people are social actors gained increasing predominance. Since then, there has been a growing recognition of young people's ability to understand and contribute to forming their environments. In this article, the authors discuss the state of youth participation in the United…

Few communities have developed successful strategies for attracting large numbers of older youth to their out-of-school-time programs. Older youth are a challenging population to serve programmatically for several reasons: (1) Demanding schedules mean that young people's participation on a regular basis can be challenging; (2) Teens are not…

Our annual feature, "From the Inside," is intended to share stories about working with youth in order to inspire others. In this year's installment, Carol Weiss Rubel, an educator in Pennsylvania, writes about her experience working with at-risk teens and creating "Yellowwood." Yellowwood is an alternative school for youth with…

The Llano Grande Center is a non-profit education and community development organization founded in the mid-1990s by youth and teachers out of a public high school classroom in a rural South Texas (USA) community. The Center was created, in large part, to cultivate youth voices as important elements of curriculum development and teacher training…

Relying on standardized tests to measure performance and determine accountability obscures the fact that only reciprocal rights and responsibilities can create authentic accountability. A student has the right to expect a teacher will begin on time with a well-prepared lesson, the necessary materials, and the skill to conduct a class. A teacher,…

School and community agency collaboration can potentially increase physical activity opportunities for youth. Few studies have examined the role of community agencies in promoting physical activity, much less in collaboration with schools. This article describes formative research data collection from community agencies to inform the development…

The pressures of a nation-wide decline in educational funding coupled with the increase in demands for accountability has renewed legislative discussion about the efficacy of school consolidation. This national survey of school superintendents who have experienced school merger, explored the effects of consolidation on school communities,…

This chapter focuses on successful practices in fundraising through contractual, partnership, and entrepreneurial activities by community colleges. Examples of each type of fundraising activity are discussed, and Central Piedmont Community College's (Charlotte, NC) enterprising college model, which incorporates elements of each type, is described.

This paper discusses the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence and how it helps improve the literacy skills of all children in El Paso, Texas. The goal of the collaborative is to ensure that all children are successful in school and are prepared to enter and be successful in a four-year college. Its role is to expand leadership and…

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation dedicated to raising levels of achievement in secondary education. It has a membership of over 4900 schools and organisations. SSAT works with head teachers, teachers and students to encourage them to develop and share new and effective…

The ND Annual Conference--Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations was held on March 7-8, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza in White Plains, New York. The conference was sponsored by the Psychology Department of Farmingdale State College. The conference featured Dr. Douglas Bernstein from the University of South Florida, Tampa as the keynote speaker.…

This volume begins with an essay by Noelle McAfee, a contributor who is familiar to readers of Higher Education Exchange (HEX). She reiterates Mathews' argument regarding the disconnect between higher education's sense of engagement and the public's sense of engagement, and suggests a way around the epistemological conundrum of "knowledge…

Austin Partners in Education, a nonprofit organization, helps the community and AISD classrooms work together to ensure academic excellence and personal success for students. Academic outcomes, student engagement, and other variables for school year 2008-2009 were examined in this report.

The Youth Empowerment Strategies (YES!) project is an afterschool empowerment program and research project for underserved early adolescents. Central to YES! is an empowerment intervention that provides early adolescents with opportunities for civic engagement with other youth around issues of shared concern in their schools and neighborhoods.…