This article suggests that those interested in advocating healthier school lunches use a "School Lunch Lottery" to convince parents and administrators that change is necessary. During the lottery, key players are invited to experience one of three different school lunch options--a typical school lunch; a healthy bag lunch; and a school cafeteria…

This article addresses the design and application of a hotline to promote broader community-wide participation in a public school evaluation. Evaluations of community resources such as public schools present evaluators with challenges from the perspective of promoting stakeholder involvement. Although many evaluation stakeholders are readily…

Ample evidence suggests that attending college is positively associated with an increased level of civic engagement. However, few studies develop and test a conceptual model that investigates which elements of the collegiate experience affect the development of civic engagement. Therefore, this study focused on the development and testing of a…

This "Compendium" is a comprehensive reference manual containing an extensive selection of instruments developed to measure signs and symptoms commonly encountered in neurological conditions, both progressive and non-progressive. It provides a repository of established instruments, as well as newly-developed scales, and covers all aspects of the…

The purpose of the study was to examine early childhood education pre-service teachers' perceptions of the increasing role of new technologies in classroom environments. Given the growth in interest in a teacher's technological literacy, the research focused on similarities in and differences between pre-service teachers' concepts of technology…

Media reports and scholarly literature identify conflicts between superintendents and school board members as a crisis in local school governance. Reformers advocate for more training of superintendents and board members, but little research has been conducted on how the diversity in board makeup may contribute to this crisis. The purpose of this…

In recent years, strengthening and better functioning of local governance have become prime concerns of educational reform agenda. Establishment of effective local governance has been part of overall changes in educational governance for several years in many countries including India. It is now widely recognized that effective local governance…

Developed for an NIH training institute, this volume is organized around the most frequently asked questions by researchers starting their careers in applied research in child and adolescent development. With contributions from the leading scholars in the field, actual research experiences highlight the challenges one faces in conducting such…

This article describes a broader, bolder approach to education reform aimed at addressing the social and economic disadvantages that hinder student achievement. Central principles of this approach to reform include the provision of supports such as early childhood and preschool programs, after-school and summer enrichment programs, parent…

Despite ongoing equity initiatives, there is still a clear discrepancy in regards to access to higher education for potential students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper reports on an action research initiative that has developed a model of engaged outreach as an alternative approach to traditional university outreach. Engaged…

Background: Escalation of youth violence within a large geographic school-complex area in southeastern rural Hawaii became a major problem in 2006. How cultural forces impact the problem was an impetus to examine youth violence from perspectives of adults and children in rural communities. Gathering these data was an essential first step toward…

Aim: There is a growing evidence of the physical and mental health inequalities in people with intellectual disability (ID) although less has been written concerning the mental health of women with ID (International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities). This is compared with the substantive literature published within…

Background: Possessing high numbers of developmental assets greatly reduces the likelihood of a young person engaging in health-risk behaviors. Since youth in the juvenile justice system seem to exhibit many high-risk behaviors, the purpose of this study was to assess the presence of external, internal, and social context areas of developmental…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has become a policy priority in many countries. A growing body of research recognises that it provides a wide range of benefits, including social and economic benefits, better child well-being and learning outcomes as a foundation for lifelong learning, more equitable outcomes and reduction of poverty, and…

Each edition of the "IDRA (Intercultural Development Research Association) Newsletter" strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on parent and community engagement and includes: (1) Community Conversations about…