This descriptive study re-examines the graduate education of doctoral students in rhetoric and composition in light of the field's civic tradition. This project explores the current preparation of rhetoric and composition students in Ph.D. programs and then focuses primarily on how doctoral programs are preparing aspiring new faculty members to…

This paper explores, with a qualitative framework, critical social theory and thematic analysis, the narratives of many Aboriginal elders of Mornington Island (Kunhanhaa) about their history and their potential to form productive kin-based relationships with visiting teachers in order to influence the curriculum and pedagogy delivered at the local…

The purpose of this article is to examine the authors' experiences while trying to enter and engage local communities in bottom-up literacies through participatory action research (PAR) toward the community's own collective self-development. In trying to enter five different communities, I have found several challenges and roadblocks such as…

The idea of inclusive education has featured very highly in the educational priorities of many countries. Our involvement with the literature that relates to inclusion leads to the conclusion that, if we are interested in moving towards more inclusive practices, a factor that has to be studied in more depth is leadership and its role in developing…

Evaluative instruments designed to assess a university's or college's institutionalization of service-learning practices have been devised and widely utilized. These instruments often come with assumptions about aligning data with decision making. To date, attempts to document community engagement practices within a department or an entire…

This article argues that a commonly neglected dimension in service-learning pedagogy is the consideration of community perspectives in developing these service-learning projects. Areas considered in this study were: (1) Community members' needs and problems, (2) Community members' perceived roles and participation, and (3) Community members'…

This technical brief describes updates to a database of dropout prevention programs and policies in 2006/07 created by the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands and described in the Issues & Answers report, "Piloting a searchable database of dropout prevention programs in nine low-income urban school districts in the…

The "Census in Schools Educator Update" is sent to educators and educational organizations periodically to keep them informed about current and upcoming census data and to provide ideas about how to use data in the classroom. This issue of the "Census in Schools Educator Update" newsletter focuses on the following topics: (1) Census in Schools is…

In this article, the authors reexamine and duplicate research conducted more than 20 years ago to learn if the simple act of sharing literature with kindergarten children through a nurturing dialogic approach will support children's development of literacy skills, including a love of reading. Dialogic reading is based on: (1) child participation;…

Research suggests that institutional commitment to community engagement can be understood by examining levels of student, faculty, and community involvement in engagement; organizational structure, rewards, and campus publications supporting engagement; and compatibility of an institution's mission with this work (Holland, 1997). Underlying all of…

Study design: A systematic review of the literature. Objectives: To investigate community participation of persons with an intellectual disability (ID) as reported in empirical research studies. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted for the period of 1996-2006 on PubMed, CINAHL and PSYCINFO. Search terms were derived from the…

Akins High School is the newest and second largest high school in the Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas. This report describes how the school has used small learning communities and the "HSTW" framework of Key Practices to improve the school culture, personalize the learning environment, improve student achievement and…

This paper documents the initial process by which a San Diego middle school, located in a low-income and predominantly Hispanic neighborhood and repeatedly failing to meet No Child Left Behind provisions, restructured into an academically rigorous, detracked charter school. The discussion of the political experience and working relationships…

Since 1995, the Donors' Education Collaborative (DEC) has supported a range of groups--advocacy, organizing, research and policy groups--who advocate for, or whose members come from, diverse constituencies concerned about public education in New York City (NYC). DEC has also encouraged collaborations among these types of groups to leverage their…

The literature addressing how family and community involvement impacts a culture of college and career readiness suggests there is a positive association for certain types of involvement. Providing support and encouragement, as well as assisting with planning, increases the probability of attending and graduating from college. Key points include:…