The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children in Texas and across the United States. The theme of this issue is "Restoring Justice." Articles include: (1) Integrating the Assets…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Keeping the Public in Public Education." Contents include: (1) Texas Must…

In recent years, the field of education has been fraught with a variety of different challenges. A multi-year pandemic, book banning, and legislative efforts seeking to ban Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ positive curriculum have had negative effects on K-12 education, leaving many educators feeling the progress made in several states and…

Competent social work practice includes the use of advocacy to promote equal opportunity and justice for all individuals, particularly those living in vulnerable circumstances. Group role-play exercises are an innovative teaching method that can promote advocacy skills guided by social work values and the code of ethics. Group role-play exercises…

Gary Armstrong, assistant principal, is faced with a delicate situation. The elementary school recently enrolled a transgender student, and the principal, Amy Lamar, is resistant to considering the student's unique needs. This case was developed for use in a leadership course. Instructors can use the case to encourage dialogue around legal…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Culturally Sustaining Schools." Contents include: (1) Texas HB 3979 Will Hurt…

This article responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada's 2015 call for the education of Canadians about "residential schools, treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada." It is an analysis of the Canadian and world studies curricula and texts in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1 of…

First introduced in 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has evolved over nearly five decades, emphasizing education reform priorities that mirror the changing national education policy conversation. The most recent iteration of ESEA, also known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), was enacted in 2001. It emphasized improving…

This four-day learning activity on the controversy of exclusion of gays and subsequently atheists in Boy Scouting is particularly relevant because it highlights the complexities that surround issues of equality, equity, the provision of leisure services, First Amendment rights, and the implications of court decisions on social justice. This lesson…

Social work students enter the field of social work for many reasons--from wanting to become clinicians to wanting to advocate for a more socially just world. Social policy classes can be the ideal courses to provide instruction on conducting research on current policy issues. Teaching students about policy advocacy can lead to a class rich with…

In this classroom simulation, students travel back in time to 1945, when racism was institutionalized in many states through segregation. Though students cannot literally travel back to the Jim Crow era, teachers can create a situation that brings home the point of injustice and the choices individuals are faced with in such situations. Suddenly,…

The trickster, a crucial character in many cultural histories, often slips into people's lives without warning. In the western United States, the trickster frequently manifests himself as Coyote, and he is central in the oral traditions of tribal people, ranching families, and outdoor adventurers alike. Coyote is a complex character that teaches…

Learn how to engage and advocate for undocumented children and youth with this new resource written by and for teachers. "Teachers as Allies" provides educators with the information and tools they need to involve immigrant students and their American-born siblings and peers in inclusive and transformative classroom experiences. The…

If students from a totalitarian nation were secretly transported to a Canadian classroom to continue their lessons with new teachers and a new curriculum, would they be able to tell the difference? Both classes might engage students in volunteer activities in the community--picking up litter from a nearby park, or helping out at a busy…

Background/Context: A challenge for teachers who support teaching for and about democracy is doing so while being pressed into directives rooted in corporatocracy, a political manifestation of neoliberalism. The accountability movement today, particularly No Child Left Behind, is rooted in much more firmly in corporatocracy than democracy.…