Action research, particularly done by teachers, has had a contentious, decades-long history. As a form of social inquiry, action research has been designed to make it easier for members of social groups to create social change within their communities. Rather than conducting research that focuses on an outcome, action researchers focus on the…

Determined to shift the balance by providing a venue for students' voices, Cordi and Masturzo reclaimed and remade a Web space to address bullying using digital storytelling (Ohler, 2009). Using "Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories", they guided their undergraduate students on a valuable journey of self-exploration, reflection, and…

Background: Asthma places a heavy burden on Chicago's schoolchildren, particularly in low-income, minority communities. Recently, our group developed a 10-week afterschool program, the Student Asthma Research Team (START), which successfully engaged high school youth in a Photovoice investigation of factors impacting their asthma at school and in…

Every teacher dreams of the perfect, well-behaved class, but the reality can be quite different. On those less-than-perfect days, having a system in place helps you and your students stay on track. This gold mine of teacher-developed and -approved strategies goes beyond classroom management theory and gives you ready-to-use tools that not only…

This study proposes an elaboration of the human development capability approach by theorizing empowerment capabilities as an essential aspect of the education of excluded village girls. Seeking to explain Chinese village girls' demand for schooling, the article identifies intangible and instrumental capabilities that have often been overlooked and…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

Middle level advisors are faculty members whose role is to develop meaningful relationships and to facilitate conversations with a group of 10 to 12 students on a regular basis regarding the students' academic, personal, and social concerns. This study examines the impact of professional development on middle level advisors' knowledge, skills, and…

There are multiple ways that assessment is positioned within education: as a method for accountability, a strategy to attract funding and an approach to support learning. Different assessment practices portray students in different ways and can serve to include or exclude them in their learning and assessment. Students are often categorised and…

Paraprofessionals are among the 650,000 people supervised by certified professionals who support students with disabilities as determined by a student's Individual Education Plan (IEP). While there is a growing body of literature that examines the role of paraprofessionals in the general classroom, there is little information about the role of the…

A collaborative team of five international teacher educators/researchers examine the importance of student voice for authentic discourse and instructional design in contemporary classrooms. Excerpts from their perspectives on teaching, research, and innovative programs are woven together and include suggested Actions/Reflections for the reader.…

This study examined the relationship between a middle school initiative to develop student voice, interpersonal relationships, and intrapersonal relationships and students' sense of belonging. The literature indicated a strong connection between students' sense of belonging in school and positive outcomes in and out of the classroom (Deci &…

The authors of this article, Silvia Diazgranados Ferráns and Robert Selman, use an emergent framework to explore how the rules of the school culture at different perceived school climates affect early adolescents' decisions to upstand, bystand, or join the perpetrators when they witness peer aggression and bullying. Through a grounded theory…

Educators can implement strategies to build positive relationships with students that will help them become more autonomous and less anonymous in school. These strategies allow young adolescents to become more self aware, to take greater responsibility for their actions, to reflect on their own lives and actions, and to have choices regarding…

This article presents the Achieving Success Everyday (ASE) group counseling model, which is designed to help school counselors integrate students' academic and personal-social development into their group work. We first describe this group model in detail and then offer one case example of a middle school counselor using the ASE model to conduct a…

This article offers wisdom to those seeking to better engage young adolescents: children are inherently curious and eager to learn, and will be more so when adults step aside and give them room to stretch. The author describes tools and suggested practices on how to advance student empowerment to learn. Allowing students to make choices about…