Each edition of the IDRA 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 Student Engagement and includes: (1) Teaching for Cognitive Engagement Materializing the Promise of Sheltered Instruction (Adela…

The purpose of this action research project report was to reduce bullying in middle school students through the use of student-leaders. Twenty-eight 8th graders, two counselors, and 24 teachers participated for a total of 54 participants. The study was conducted between September 11, 2007, and December 20, 2007. This project focused on four types…

Using classroom observations and teacher interviews, this study examined how three young children, considered classroom leaders by their teachers, created complex dilemmas for their teachers through their interactions with teachers and peers. Findings showed that the children's powerful influence on their peers could be both positive and negative,…

Leadership is a socially constructed concept shaped by the context, values and experiences of society (Klenke, 1996); the historical context of gender and ethnicity in society affects views about leadership and who merits a leadership role. Therefore, developing an understanding of Hispanic women students' leadership identity development is…

This study evaluated four sets of factors hypothesized to amplify adolescents' developmental and negative experience in organized youth activities. A representative sample of 1,822 eleventh grade students from 19 high schools completed the computer-administered Youth Experience Survey. Findings indicated that amount of time, motivation, holding a…

The Australian Government report Teachers for the 21st Century: Making the Difference (DEST, 2000) highlighted that teachers were central to student learning, and that there was a need for professional development for teachers in order for them to adapt to changing student needs. These ideas are not new and have been have been supported by other…

Economists have identified a substantial adult wage premium attached to high school leadership activity. Unresolved is the extent to which it constitutes human capital acquisition or proxies for an "innate" unobserved skill. We document a determinant of high school leadership activity that is associated purely with school structure, rather than…

This study examined college students' capacities for socially responsible leadership using theoretical measures grounded in the social change model of leadership development (HERI, 1996). Findings represent responses from 50,378 participants enrolled at 52 colleges and universities across the United States. Students scored highest on the…

Over the years researchers have attempted to gather information on outdoor orientation programs. Past researchers used different sampling techniques to locate programs, but all concluded more outdoor orientation programs probably existed than they were able to find. In the fall of 2005, a research group for the present study set out to create a…

Leadership development is a fundamental responsibility of colleges and universities. In this article, the authors present the theoretical foundation of an innovative initiative, as well as criteria for assessing leadership development programs in higher education. They use the Student Leadership Development Institute at Rutgers University as a…

No known studies have examined the perception of family and consumer science (FCS) students related to group work in the classroom and its relationship to leadership. In this qualitative study, two groups of FCS students--hospitality management and dietetics--viewed group projects as exercises in leadership skills that had many barriers.…

The Common Ground Multicultural Dialogue program in the Department of Resident Life at the University of Maryland is an innovative peer education program designed to teach skills for engagement through exploration of contemporary multicultural societal dilemmas. The Common Ground Dialogue Program was launched in 2000 to provide undergraduate…

Interest in student leadership or leadership by young people has always existed in school and community settings and while there are many programs devoted to leadership development and training, we believe that there is a need for focused research into what young people conceive leadership to be and in what circumstances they would see it being…

The annual K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award--bestowed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities--recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education, with strong commitments to teaching and learning; to academic and civic responsibility; and to the development of others as leaders,…