Over the last several decades a number of strategies have emerged and evolved to promote gender equity in development efforts. Yet debates regarding the relative efficacy of these strategies remain. On Thursday, April 26, 2007, the Woodrow Wilson Center convened a group of experts on gender and development to address the issue of gender inequality…

The integration of early reading, writing, and critical thinking skills are crucial to the development of healthy attitudes about writing and literacy in general. A child needs to feel that what he or she says is valuable. For that to happen, children need to begin at a very young age expressing themselves. Writing is an excellent outlet. As soon…

Noting the discrepancy between what is advocated and what is practiced in language arts classroom, this Digest synthesizes the existing problems, reviews the research supporting language arts integration, and proposes a rationale for integrating the language arts. The Digest points out that these new initiatives in language arts focus on the…

Adventure-based programs may be designed in a way that not only provides an intervention aimed at therapy or development, but also teaches participants to become their own agents of change. McWhirter's model proposes that empowerment is broader than notions of personal autonomy and efficacy, reaching outside the individual. The model specifies…

This booklet presents information on Education International, a group that promotes teacher rights, trade union rights (including teacher unions), fair teaching conditions, and equal education for all people. The booklet includes information on the following: the Education International executive board (name, address, telephone, fax, and e-mail);…

Writing teachers interested in overcoming student resistance or unwillingness to question authority should consider using "zines" in the classroom. According to one teen-ager, zines are "sorta like a magazine you publish yourself, but other people help you out." Concentrating on about any subject that interests its writers from…

This article addresses the concept of participation in the mathematics classroom, especially as it relates to students from certain ethnic and language groups and economically disadvantaged students. The authors are primarily concerned with seeking ways to develop approaches to mathematics education that are sensitive to the contexts and lived…

Research on effective teaching, combined with findings of the effective schools movement, is calling for teacher empowerment and new leadership opportunities for principals. This article describes a leadership pyramid embodying symbolic, cultural, instructional, and managerial functions. Principals will still operate at the top (symbolic and…

Presents a theoretical framework for analyzing minority students' school failure and the relative lack of success of previous attempts at educational reform, such as compensatory education and bilingual education. The author suggests that these attempts have been unsuccessful because they have not altered significantly the relationships between…

This paper highlights an attempt by two grade 8 teachers, Bulelwa and Kevin, to draw in the everyday in the teaching of mathematics. Though located in different South African contexts and settings, both teachers tend to enable their learners' access to mathematics by rendering the everyday inauthentic. I argue that inauthenticating the everyday is…

This book will empower everyone who works in education to build more support in Congress and state legislatures. It is full of personal anecdotes that illuminate successes, failures, and examples that teach from real-life experience. "Empowering School Leaders" is tailored for educators and designed to show them how to increase their political…

Intended as a guide for all educators associated with parent involvement--especially classroom teachers--this resource handbook addresses the issues and concerns of parents in school programs. Following an Introduction, chapters in the handbook are: (1) Why We Need Parent Involvement in Our Schools; (2) Diversity in Schools; (3) The ABC's of…

This practical guidebook is designed for managers and leaders who have responsibility for the creation and success of teams. First, a team is described as a workgroup whose members are dependent upon one another for the completion of a given task, and whose members possess different but complementary skill sets. A team manages its own work within…

In 1990, the Leon County Public Schools (FL) implemented a voluntary school-based, decision-making (SBDM) council. This paper presents findings of an evaluation of the SBDM system in the school district conducted after 5 years of activity. Data were obtained from interviews with 61 principals and 34 site-council chairs and from a survey of 206 out…

This guide provides teachers with a nine-step process to empower students to plan and implement civic participation projects in their community. The guide lists the materials students need and outlines the procedures for guiding students in the civic action project. It suggests that the teacher: (1) decide on a project in advance; (2) introduce…