What are the key issues in Citizenship Education today? "Debates in Citizenship Education" encourages student and practising teachers to engage with and reflect on some of the key topics, concepts and debates that they will have to address throughout their career. It places the specialist field of Citizenship Education in a wider context…

Quality schoolyards provide opportunities for the physical challenges, exercise, sensory play, fantasy play, organized sports, and unsupervised free play that allow for healthy, well-rounded development. Schoolyards should be safe places where children practice social skills and develop an appreciation for the feelings of others and the…

This mixed methods study examines what makes Bluffview Elementary School a success as measured by the ISAT, the mandated state test of Illinois. Despite national reports of achievement gaps and low test scores, Bluffview Elementary has shown sustained success in educating children. This paper reviews how Bluffview Elementary students are achieving…

Learning in and through the arts develops the essential knowledge, skills, and creative capacities all students need to succeed in school, work, and life. As the top building-level leaders, school principals play a key role in ensuring every student receives a high-quality arts education as part of a complete education. In a time of shrinking…

Since independence, the Kenyan government has demonstrated its commitment to the provision of quality secondary school education through allocation of financial resources, provision of trained teachers and establishment of quality assurance department. However, despite the substantial allocation of resources, secondary schools still face major…

The paper describes a graduate course deploying innovative instructional materials (e.g., the use of novels to provide context for theoretical constructs) and learning activities (e.g., community asset mapping) to engage issues of leadership in rural settings. Prior to describing the course itself, the paper develops a rationale for the importance…

This paper represents a series of reflections on collective and individual efforts of diverse women scholars to reconcile alternative views of scholarship within the academy. We document our collective experience with embedding the concept of the "scholarship of engagement" in our practice of research, teaching, and service through a process of…

Public school music education in the USA remains wedded to large ensemble performance. Instruction tends to be teacher directed, relies on styles from the Western canon and exhibits little concern for musical interests of students. The idea that a fundamental purpose of education is the creation of a just society is difficult for many music…

Operation Magpie was a citizen science project that involved the community in collecting data about magpies. This article describes one aspect of the project from an education perspective. The study began with a collaboration of teacher educators, environmental scientists and a local radio station. After an initial workshop with 75 teachers, three…

This article describes how public engagement was incorporated into a research university's current Academic Plan, how the public engagement metrics were selected and adopted, and how those processes led to subsequent strategic planning. Some recognition of the importance of civic engagement has followed, although there are many areas in which…

Since 2005, the National Indian Education Study (NIES) has provided educators, policymakers, and the public with information about the background and academic performance of fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. NIES was administered in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011 as part of the National…

In this brief, Christine Patton and Justina Wang, from Harvard Family Research Project, look at ways of helping to make the transition into kindergarten a positive experience that will serve as a foundation to help children reach their full potential throughout their school years. The brief highlights promising practices in six states--New Jersey,…

This course, "Words on the Wadsworth," was the Humanities Honors course for the spring of 2009 at Hillyer College, the two year Associates degree program at the University of Hartford. Combining the content of a chronological survey of modern art with the new technology of podcasting and the venue of the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford…

Representative democracy relies on the informed trust of the citizens. School board members serve their communities at a crucial place, governing large sums of money and the future of the community's children. Without the informed trust of the citizens, this enterprise will fail. Trust may be lost directly, or through inattention to detail. One of…

This study was designed to investigate school principals' perceptions on school public relations in five areas: community demographics, parental involvement, internal and external communications, school council issues, and community resources. Findings indicated that principals' concerns were as follows: rapid population growth, change of…