This packet of materials focuses on the self-advocacy of individuals with disabilities. Part 1 includes: "Self-Advocacy: Speaking for Yourself" (Michael Kennedy and Patricia Killius), an article written by individuals with disabilities that discusses the importance of people with disabilities making their own decisions and having a say…

Relationships between the level of teachers' perceived empowerment, the degree of teachers' perceived responsibility for student outcomes, and student achievement were studied with 271 elementary school teachers. The Responsibility for Student Achievement Scale (RSA) (T. Guskey, 1981) and the School Participant Empowerment Scales (SPES) (P. Short…

This document is a guide for teachers to integrate civic values and service learning into their social studies classes. The curriculum includes 17 ready-to-use lessons that can be adapted to United States history, government, or civics classes. A vital part of the unit is a group project in which students identify a real political problem,…

Strategies in this guide recognize that most at-risk students need to be self-directed, and they involve working with students instead of against them. The book contains practical tools for working with discipline-resistant students. The chapters are: (1) "The Problem with Control"; (2) "The Role of Temperament"; (3)…

Although the progress toward poverty reduction remains sluggish, other dimensions of social welfare in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region show signs of improvement. Adult literacy and school enrollment rates, life expectancy at birth, access to safe water, and nutrition indicators are improving. However, other factors demonstrate that…

This paper situates dialogue with students about their learning (descriptive feedback) within the larger frame of reflection, examining how teachers involved in inservice teacher education have used descriptive feedback and noting its impact on their teaching and on students' learning. It presents case studies of teachers and describes the role of…

This guide is intended to be a resource for parents of children with special needs who want to improve the early intervention system in North Carolina for their own children and for the whole community. By informing parents about resources that are available for children and families, the guide empowers parents as leaders. Annotated lists of…

This paper reports on a qualitative and quantitative study in which the service learning projects of college students in special education teacher training were analyzed using elements of quality service learning as criteria. The study used the "portraiture" method of analysis, which attempts to combine empirical and aesthetic description and…

The purpose of this guide is to help leaders move their schools ahead in the face of adversity. It is intended for principals, teacher leaders, district administrators, and others who have a stake in helping schools move forward. The contents are based on qualitative research and actual experiences of schools effective in dealing with adversity.…

This paper presents a structured group intervention for increasing social justice awareness, knowledge, and advocacy skills with upper elementary, middle school, or junior high aged students. The paper presents the "Empowering Students for Social Justice" model and describes a general framework that includes goals and activities for an…

This paper discusses three examples of the use of student voices to inform external-partner activities in Chicago's public schools. The text is based on a collaborative effort directed at diagnosing the needs of the Chicago schools. The article focuses on the perceptions of the probation process as reported by student-focus groups. Some of the…

Chormmunity is a group's collaborative, embodied text-making. It explores interfacings of intention, metaphor, empowerment, inspiration, vision, negotiation, collusion, the propositional, the practical, the experiential, the presentational, the tacit, the sociological, the psychological, epistemology, methodology, and ontology. Chormmunity is…

This book explores everyday social practices and how they influence who people are, their life quality, opportunities and possibilities open and denied, focusing on language and literacy components of social practices. Chapter 1 outlines an approach to thinking about language and culture and how they are related, developed from Gee's (1996)…

The Student Achievement Mode (SAM) gives teachers a system for collecting and analyzing data in order to increase student achievement in classrooms and schools. Developed in 1 school, the model is currently used in 63 elementary and 8 secondary schools in a large school district in Florida. The purpose of SAM is to increase student achievement,…

This paper describes the Leadership Opportunity Forums for high school students sponsored by the Explorer's Post of the Birmingham Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The goal of the forum was to increase student leadership behaviors through informational sessions, needs assessment, informal discussions, shared meals, outdoor physical…