There is a need for Vietnamese language education for the Vietnamese American community in the United States, and the Vietnamese Language Program at Westminster High School (WHS) in Orange County, California, has been able to preserve the Vietnamese language. Students in the program also learn about their heritage and culture to stay connected to…

This article describes an urban high school's response to gun violence, chronicling how the school's mission, full-service community orientation, and commitment to authentic cariño (caring) allowed students to respond to grief and tragedy and develop an ongoing peace building movement that seeks to transform students' lives and the communities…

One district, South Bay Union School District, devises and executes a comprehensive strategy that includes training for district staff, teachers and coaches, including using PLCs and professional development in the implementation of Common Core English language arts standards.

The authors report on a study of eight inclusive STEM high schools that are designed to increase the numbers of students in demographic groups underrepresented in STEM. As STEM schools, they have had broader and deeper STEM coursework (taken by all students) than required by their respective states and school districts; they also had outcome…

A little over a decade ago, Modesto Calif. Public schools Superintendent James Enochs undertook what became a groundbreaking initiative that resulted in the creation of the nation's only required course in world religions. He did so by convening the city's clergy and community leaders and leading school administrators to fashion a course organized…

In the light of the uncertain benefits and the understated but escalating costs of public services, it is hardly irrational for taxpayers to attack the problem through the cost side. (Author)

The Make a Difference model transforms community service from free labor and low-level tasks to efforts yielding genuine community improvement and enhanced academic performance. Students study the organization they work for and/or the chosen problem. California middle-school students conducted interviews, located primary sources, and created a…

NetDay began in California as an idea developed by Michael Kaufman, of KQED, and John Gage, of Sun Microsystems. They proposed the "electronic barn raising" concept, drawing on community resources to wire schools and encourage citizens to cooperate. Other states and Australia now participate. (MLH)

Profiles Mike, a middle-aged Comanche who was preliterate when beginning the author's class in English as a Second Language. Although traditional schooling had failed him, Mike learned enough English to become a prolific writer and translator of North American poetry. By raising tuition and standards, California community college system will…

Discusses the report of the California Commission for the Reform of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RISE) and the preliminary plan of the implementation committee. (IRT)

Educational researchers have paid little attention to "critique"--an activity young artists routinely use to assess and advance their creative projects. It is an activity from which they have a lot to learn, particularly in the context of community-based arts collaboratives. In school classrooms where teachers emphasize group projects…

Studies the deleterious effects of Oregon's Measure 5 (a property relief measure) on two suburban elementary schools in Oregon City and West Linn. In both Oregon and California, a shift away from property taxes has not been accompanied by the development of adequate funding from other sources. Our growing willingness to provide for children's…