Various disparate activities have been defined as outreach, which is an element of social service/disease prevention programs. The history of outreach as a project element within federal social programs, central sources of variations in this element, measures of effectiveness and cost effectiveness, and recurring implementation issues are…

Institutionally empowered principals provide teachers with decision-making possibilities and use this empowerment to benefit the exchange between teacher and principal. Cultural empowerment requires even more effort. Teachers and principals must work together on the school's institutional and cultural climate by using dialogue and critique.…

Problems in the definition of competency-based education are discussed. Theory and examples are cited in three areas: limited range of competencies, emphasis on knowledge rather than use, and lack of requirements for a phrasebook approach. (Contains four references.) (LB)

A literature review uncovered unclear and inconsistent concepts of cooperative education; lack of integration of theory, research, and practice; and lack of rigorous research standards. It is crucial that cooperative education be defined, its target audience identified, and principles or tenets of practice described. (SK)

Examines the concept, implications, and dilemmas of school restructuring, whose meanings are confusing and complex. Restructuring can be synonymous with top-down reform or ruthless retrenchment or can signify redefined power relationships in classrooms, staff rooms, and schooling communities. This paper identifies four restructuring dilemmas…

Discusses ways that language and technology education (TE) overlap: names and identity of TE, teacher use and tolerance of language, using language to improve the clarity of instruction, and using language as material to teach about technology. (SK)

Ponders the definition of an American, and offers some responses to that question from high school students around the United States. (SR)

Describes how child well-being has been conceptualized and measured in research on family foster care, and discusses the essential dimensions that should be included in a useful measure of child well-being. Discusses challenges in incorporating measures of child well-being into ongoing evaluations of family foster care. (Author)

Responding to the author's "discourse on democracy" in this journal's inaugural issue, Jim Scheurich claims that "democracy" used in conjunction with educational change is a code word for "white majoritarian racial domination or supremacy." To Glickman, democratic ideals (equality, liberty, fraternity) are universal and worth struggling for. (11…

Proposes a social need for solidarity, examines sources of the term, and shows how principles and practices of solidarity, although construed in various metaphors, is deeply rooted in the scriptural story. Provides a holistic frame of reference for proposing the promotion of solidarity as a foundational concern for religious education. (DSK)

Offers an explanation of the concept of Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) as developed at the Southeast Center for Education in the Arts. Using the DBAE model, develops expanded definitions of the four DBAE discipline perspectives and six organizing principles under which the arts may be taught and studied. (DSK)

Provides a narrative review of some literature--research, theory, and commentary--conveying the concept of school as community. Reviews sociological writings about community over two centuries and merges this line of thought with contemporary inquiry into the social contexts of schooling, including family relationships. (34 references) (MLH)

Analyzes the application of levels of deficits or supports in the classification of mental retardation in published research. Analysis of data from three professional journals indicated that the supports model of classification has had no significant impact in subject descriptions reported in mental-retardation research. Implications for teacher…

Discusses how the Guckenberger v Boston University case illustrates the interaction of the psychometrics of ability differences with the concept of learning disability and with the sociopolitics of schooling and society. Urges a more inclusive definition of learning disability which abandons aptitude-achievement discrepancy requirements and a more…

Introduces this special issue on how educators in various countries facilitate creative thinking in their students. Notes that some of the articles contain information or examples demonstrating originality, flexibility, or important personality traits that contribute to creativity, such as risk-taking, and that others address the need for…