This article is based on the author's own strategies to foster community among educators. As a new, young, female junior faculty member in the School of Education at a major research university, the author has struggled to build a strong sense of community in her school. She has also encountered ambivalence about openly expressing…

Our annual feature, "From the Inside," is intended to share stories about working with youth in order to inspire others. In this year's installment, Carol Weiss Rubel, an educator in Pennsylvania, writes about her experience working with at-risk teens and creating "Yellowwood." Yellowwood is an alternative school for youth with…

The media calls them the wizards of tomorrow, the fix-it-kids, athletes of the mind, star players, and champs. These are the young people who compete and win academic, artistic, leadership, and service related competitions. Competitors spell words as difficult as autochthonous, make new scientific discoveries, compose poetry, publish their short…

This article explains the benefits and challenges of requiring undergraduate political science students to act outside the classroom to mobilize voters. Although several published articles describe student engagement with social service agencies, policy research, community outreach, and classroom simulations, this article fills a gap in the…

America's Promise Alliance recommends that all sectors of society work together to ensure all young people have a 21st century education in which service-learning and civic involvement are components. This policy/practice brief explores service-learning as a place-based family-strengthening strategy that develops the capacity of youth as a core…

The Academy For Learning (AFL) serves urban students with emotional and behavioral problems. Through a Personal and Social Responsibility program, students develop skills for personal growth and service learning. Many alternative programs for troubled students offer little more than a curriculum for containment and control. In contrast, students…

From a visual perspective, many disadvantaged students are assigned to schools that are dark, shabby and lifeless--more like a factory or fortress than a place for learning. Equally lifeless is the standard test-driven curriculum which utterly fails to tap the interests and talents of these students. Stultified learning environments are…

One response to the need to prepare future teachers as multicultural educators is to use service learning with an immigrant population as part of a teacher education program. This article documents the impact of a project that engaged preservice teachers in tutoring struggling young English language learners. Content analysis was used at the…

Character includes the emotional, intellectual and moral qualities of a person or group as the demonstration of these qualities in prosocial behavior. Character education is an inclusive term encompassing all aspects of how schools, related social institutions and parents can support the positive character development of children and adults.…

This book offers a groundbreaking examination of citizenship education programs that serve contemporary youth in schools and communities across the United States. These programs include social studies classes and curricula, school governance, and community-based education efforts. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the…

Ethical leadership training must be a part of the education of today's students, the leaders of the future. Students should be trained in group processing and facilitating skills, oral and written communication, conflict management, shared decision making, and team management. These future leaders should also be able to understand the symbols and…

This book describes the program Active Citizenship Today (ACT), a hands-on learning project to make learning come alive for students and integrate student learning with the larger community. This handbook accompanies the student book, "The ACT Field Guide." The book is divided into two sections with six chapters. Section 1, "The Whats and Whys of…

This bulletin presents the key elements of service learning and moves into a discussion of the benefits to be gained from incorporating service learning into a school-to-work system. It discusses the following key elements that are central to service learning programs and that can be expanded when incorporating a service learning component into a…

This paper summarizes a panel discussion that included 25 students and outdoor education and recreation professionals on issues related to land use and outdoor education and recreation programs. Many participants expressed frustration over inconsistent management policies related to educational and recreational use of public lands. Participants…

A study examined the statutory role of state commissions in implementing the AmeriCorps Program, state commission operations, and extension of state commissions' administration and oversight role and decrease of the federal government role. The research reviewed commissions in California, Maryland, Missouri, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and…