Maintains that the National Voter Registration Act (the Motor Voter Law), which requires states to provide voter registration forms with vehicle registration and at public assistance sites, has increased dramatically the number of registered voters. Discusses legal challenges and answers critics' objections. (MJP)

Lists 16 public-school-related, off-campus activities, including guest teaching, conducting workshops, classroom observation, and serving on joint committees and accreditation teams. Asks university music educators to evaluate these activities in terms of frequency, effectiveness, and importance (both to the community and to their careers). (MJP)

Examined sources of children's reading, vocabulary, general information, mathematics, and letter-recognition skills upon entrance to kindergarten. Predictors included ethnicity, gender, child IQ, family environment, maternal education, and months in child care. Found the need for strong parental involvement in children's development and subsidized…

A case study of Davis Bilingual Magnet School in Tucson (Arizona) observed and interviewed teachers, parents, students, and community members. The school's success results from strong community support and an educational environment that privileges Spanish. Although Davis students do well on standardized tests, the school's greatest pride comes…

Kentucky has sustained the most long-lasting comprehensive education reforms in the nation. Passage of the reform was based on a growing awareness of the state's inadequate education system and won broad support from citizens, business and education interest groups. The systemic package of curriculum and governance reform are tied to funding…

Examined the literacy activities of 47 father/child pairs over a two-year period in New Mexico. Found a variety of reading and writing activities and concern among fathers relating to school preparedness and bonding opportunities. Devised five recommendations aimed specifically at fathers to develop early reading and writing skills in their…

While school choice offers inner-city parents a means of educating their children well, it represents further deterioration of society's commitment to educating all students. This paper describes: the push for private school choice; parent choice in context (historical context and failures of desegregation); and segregationist strategies and…

In response to their children being turned away from the bilingual school, a group of Latino parents organized to pressure the Lompoc (California) Unified School District to guarantee educational equity. A systemic analysis of components leading to parental activism focuses on leadership, knowledge as power, cultural conflicts, anti-immigrant…

Youth policy in the United States reflects the public assumption that adolescence is a time of storm and stress and that youth are therefore in need of protection and control from their communities. These and other beliefs about youth distance adults from youth in their communities and, equally important, distract attention and debate from the…

This study examined how various components of school engagement contribute to the academic performance of African American adolescents. The sample consisted of 499 African American adolescents in Grades 9 to 11. We investigated how adolescents' gender, grade, cognitive functioning, and parental education affect their school engagement and whether…

Creating partnership between special educators and parents who are Mexican American often poses unique challenges for all involved. Historically, the fact that these parents may not share mainstream values, traditions, and customs has often been perceived by special education teachers as part of the problem and not as valuable new sources of…

It has been proposed that situated cognition theory, in which learning is conceptualized as induction into a community of practice through the activity of legitimate peripheral participation, offers an appropriate theoretical perspective for examining issues of gender in science education. This study critically engages with this proposal by means…

Supportive and caring relations within families promote academic achievement and protect against involvement in health-risk behaviors by adolescents. Similarly, supportive and caring relationships within schools (henceforth, school connectedness) promote academic motivation among adolescents. Much less is known, however, about the influence of…

Many biomedical research universities have established outreach programs for precollege students and teachers and partnerships with local school districts to help meet the challenges of science education reform. Science outreach programs held in university research facilities can make science more exciting and innovative for high school students…

This article sets the scene for the other papers in this Special Issue on children's and young people's participation, by outlining the nature of the ESRC Seminar Series from which all are derived and by developing the main themes discussed at the seminars. The focus of this Issue is participation by children and young people as this relates to…