Educators face many challenges in the classroom. One of the most difficult challenges is structuring school success for students who do not meet the goals and objectives of the educational system. Enrollment of these students, generally referred to as "at-risk", has dramatically increased (more than 250%) over the past two decades (Franklin,…

This article challenges the reader to think of homophobia as a negative social force affecting all members of an urban school community. The author argues that homophobia can only be undone if it is attacked at the intersection of race, class, and gender. A description of an anti-homophobia plan for an urban high school follows a brief discussion…

Considered a successful university-operated, urban middle school serving an overwhelmingly African American student body, "Charter" Middle School was dechartered suddenly, then merged a year later with students from a neighborhood school to become "Choice" Middle School, a school of choice in the urban district. Using a situated learning framework…

Through feminist informed understandings of injustice, this paper draws on significant research to re-articulate prevailing issues of gender inequity within and beyond the contexts of education in Australia. Following a location of the unconvincing but pervasive warrant for boys' issues to dominate the gender equity scene, the paper turns to a…

In this article, the authors attempt to employ a pedagogical tool, social perspective-taking, as a way to engage their students in the act of critical self-reflection, from a personal and professional point of view. The use of perspective taking devices, especially around issues of diversity (e.g., race, class, gender, ethnicity, and language) is…

Much is written in the literature about failing schools. What makes for failing schools as compared to those labeled as being proficient or excellent? Teachers and administrators in schools need to work in the direction of all schools being worthy. Each pupil needs to have the best education possible. The future of a child depends, in part, in…

The concept of bridging the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world draws symbolically on nineteenth century diffusion theories of linear progress and twentieth-century theories of modernization and development. This paper examines information and communication technology (ICT) policies and public-access postings on…

Research conducted by Patrick Clancy and by Fitzpatrick Associates and Philip O'Connell on the level of representation of socio-economic groups amongst higher education entrants has been a key element in the development of access policy and practice in Ireland. This article reviews the context for the development of access and explores the…

This paper highlights the main issues that are present in the field of child and adolescent mental health services with regard to strategic development. It identifies the major themes that have emerged concerning the commissioning and delivery of services, and also highlights the difficulties faced by particular groups of children. The authors…

This study examined direct and indirect influences of fathers' reported parenting beliefs and practices on children's development. Participants included 525 fathers and mothers of toddlers enrolled in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project in 14 communities across the United States. Results show that fathers' modernity defined as…

This article presents a reflexive look at a year-long mentoring experience between a university researcher and two third-grade teachers in a lower socioeconomic school. The challenges and rewards of mentoring the teachers in areas of their choice--writing workshop, constructivism, interactive learning methods, and management of cooperative…

Successful preschool transition is important for future educational success. We used brief functional screenings to identify low-income children at risk for difficulty transitioning into preschool. Functional screenings were conducted for 163 children prior to enrollment, in a naturalistic peer setting, and focused on multiple domains important…

While many aspects of educational careers have been examined in the literature on ethnic minorities, such as truancy, turnover and grades, downward mobility has rarely been studied. Using data on more than 10,000 students who entered secondary school in The Netherlands in 1989, we develop an event-history model for secondary school careers and we…

Working with communities of color to find solutions to the problems they face is a complex and challenging task. The "It Takes a Village" concept and the Transtheoretical Model of Change (Prochaska, Norcross, and DiClemente 1994) were used by the authors of this article in their work to empower clients of color to effect in their…

The early identification and remediation of emotional or behavior disorders are high priorities for early-childhood researchers and are based on the assumption that problems such as school failure can be averted with early screening, prevention, and intervention. Presently, prevalence, severity, and topography of mental health needs among…