Advocates of critical literacy emphasize the empowering role that literacy can and should play in reshaping the environment in which one lives and works. Through mastering the skills of critical literacy, students apply the inquiry process and knowledge gained as a means for political or social action. By gathering appropriate information,…

The purpose of this research project was to engage in self-reflective analysis of leadership development as an ongoing process of social action towards democratizing education. Four White women connected by their work as educational leaders, teachers and administrators, engaged this topic by conducting a dialogical analysis of their experiences in…

The American electric utility system has been massively transformed during the last three decades. Viewed previously as a staid, secure, and heavily regulated natural monopoly, the system has shed elements of government oversight and now appears to be increasingly susceptible to terrorist attacks and other disruptions. Overturning the conventional…

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…

This article presents the Cyprus results, and proposes a model of home environment and school climate on the social participation of ninth graders based on the IEA 1999 CIVIC education study data. This study examined ninth graders' participation in social actions by means of a questionnaire; the data were analyzed using structural equation…

The human response to an environmental hazard can either reduce or exacerbate its impact on health. This article reviews determinants of community-level responses to environmental health hazards. The aim is to identify factors that can enhance a community's capacity to protect itself and to suggest public health strategies that can increase such…

Working with communities of color to find solutions to the problems they face is a complex and challenging task. The "It Takes a Village" concept and the Transtheoretical Model of Change (Prochaska, Norcross, and DiClemente 1994) were used by the authors of this article in their work to empower clients of color to effect in their…

Comprehensive school-reform programs under way in many states have better chances of success if they are linked to supportive external organizations. This paper describes activities of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, an independent, privately funded organization--a collection of volunteer activists that uses citizen leadership to…

This paper presents findings from an action-research study of 12 New Zealand primary school principals working in partnership to develop their professional leadership. Since 1989, New Zealand schools have undergone extensive administrative reforms, resulting in increasing isolation among school leaders and a cult of managerialism. The…

Some returned Peace Corps volunteers believe that U.S. foreign policy has been more damaging than helpful in the Third World. They question the links between U.S. foreign and military policy and the Peace Corps. This book addresses such questions and brings together resources and information that will help the prospective volunteer find an…

This paper suggests that current paradigms and world views guiding research for social action are inadequate for directing rural community change in a high-tech, global community. For several generations, the agrarian and industrial paradigms have been accepted as appropriate for guiding social change and development. However, there are problems…

This book examines the history of Bowdoin College, chartered in 1794 by the General Court of Massachusetts and endowed by James Bowdoin, the school's namesake. Nine chapters address: (1) the movement to establish the college in the district of Maine in the late 18th century; (2) the opening of the college in 1802 and its early development; (3) the…

Kerala, a state in southwestern India, has implemented radical reform as a development strategy. As a result, Kerala now has some of the Third World's highest levels of health, education, and social justice. Originally published in 1989, this book traces the role that movements of social justice played in Kerala's successful struggle to…

A project was conducted to help single parents residing in public housing who were participants in an adult basic education (ABE) life skills program learn how to request services from school districts and social service providers. An advocacy curriculum outline and an extensive bibliography, as well as procedures and materials for training peer…

Self-consciously activist education has a long history among African-Americans; however, it is one of the least well-understood aspects of African American struggle. This paper addresses one chapter in that history, the Freedom Schools that operated in Mississippi during the summer of 1964 and for a while thereafter. The schools were the creation…