The reason that the school dropout crisis is now referred to as a "silent epidemic" is because, when we weren't paying attention, the graduation rate in our country slipped to a level that threatens the very health and well-being of our society. Each year, almost one-third of all public high school students--and nearly one-half of all…

Our children deserve an education that fully prepares them for the future--success in college, the workforce and a healthy, fulfilled life. The Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative is redesigning and expanding the school schedule to offer children new learning and enrichment opportunities. With state resources, participating…

The federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, project strives to equalize low-income students' access to higher education by increasing their participation in rigorous coursework, providing expanded opportunities for low-income students and parents to learn about postsecondary educational opportunities…

"Candles in Our Windows"--also titled "Nightlights"--is a play developed for elementary and middle school students about how residents in Billings, Montana, took a stand against hate. Last March, the 6th-grade students of Woodland Elementary School in New Jersey performed an early version of the play based on a children's book,…

"Lessons Learned" is a series of publications that are a brief recounting of actual school emergencies and crises. School and student names have been changed to protect identities. Information for this publication was gathered through a series of interviews with school stakeholders involved in the actual incident. This "Lessons Learned" issue…

Unlike school-aged youth attending well-resourced suburban schools, working-class poor students attending inner-city public schools are oftentimes denied the opportunity to develop a sense of agency within their schools and communities. In this article, the author addresses one way that educators and researchers can encourage young people to…

"What You Need to Know About Starting a Student Drug-Testing Program" is meant to Complement, and build on information provided in an earlier publication, "What You Need to Know about Drug Testing in Schools." This booklet assumes that you as a school, administrator, staff member, or parent involved in the decision have considered all the…

The Educational Training Academy (EdTrAc) is an NSF-funded project of Normandale Community College to increase the number, diversity, and skills of students preparing to be elementary and middle school teachers with a specialty in math and science. Overall, this evaluation indicates that the EdTrAc implementation is on track after its first year…

The contribution of nonfamily adults to young people's well-being was explored using both a cross-sectional national sample of 614 12- to 17-year-olds and a longitudinal sample of 370 students followed from 6th-8th grades through 10th-12th grades. Both variable- and person-centered analyses were employed. Young people's involvement in…

In this paper, we take up and advance the project of rethinking "scientific literacy" by Eisenhart, Finkel, and Marion (American Educational Research Journal, 1996, 33, 261-295). As part of a project of rethinking science education, we advance three propositions. First, because society is built on division of labor, not everybody needs to know the…

Service learning allows students to learn more about their classroom instruction through involvement with their local community. It is both a service given to the community, as well as a practical way for students to reflect on what they have been studying in class. The author of this article explains a service learning project which will be very…

University students were involved in the design, implementation, and assessment of a program in local schools on conflict and violence in the media and in one's own life. The community partners were sixth graders in five area classrooms in the community surrounding the university. This study assesses the impact of a project-based community…

Looking collaboratively at student and teacher work is a process in which teachers primarily, but also administrators, parents, students, and members of the community, look at student and/or teacher work with the goal of improving student learning. To structure the process and create a safe, caring environment, teachers use a protocol to…

This study examines the association between acculturation and subsequent binge drinking among Asian American adolescents and investigates the mediating effect of friends' alcohol and tobacco use. Data from a nationally representative sample of 714 Asian American adolescents in grades 7 to 12 were analyzed. There was no gender difference in terms…

This preliminary study provides an interpretive reading of focus group interviews of four Korean American children in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It examines how these Korean American children are negotiating their ethnic identity as Korean Americans while learning Korean as a heritage language. It shows that maintaining heritage language is…