Building democracies in K-8 schools is a promising approach to increasing young people and educators' civic knowledge, skills and dispositions. The Rendell Center for Civics and Civics Engagement leveraged strategies and concepts from the fields of civic education, student voice, and distributed leadership to build a youth-adult school governance…

Every community has individuals or groups who manage to find better solutions to problems than their peers, although everyone has access to the same resources and challenges. Those are the positive deviants.

Pennsylvania's attempt to implement competency-based education in the public schools is a well-meaning but misguided effort to improve the schools. It will succeed only in diverting vast amounts of time, energy, and intelligence away from more important and more attainable goals. (Author/IRT)

Reports on the results of a survey of the occurrence of ethnic studies courses in the schools of Pennsylvania. (IRT)

Describes an environmental action program taking place in the schools of five counties in Pennsylvania. The program deals with environmental problems on a practical level and offers technical and consultant assistance to schools and individual teachers. Specific action programs are described. (Author/IRT)

Addresses teachers' concerns generated by the Madeline Hunter clinical supervision movement sweeping over 60 percent of all Pennsylvania school districts. Although some teachers praise the model for its attention to teaching, sense of professionalism, standardization of teaching methods, and career enhancement approach, two-thirds of the teachers…

Briscoe's article explains how PennServe, Pennsylvania's youth service program, converts young people from a problem to a community resource of which to be proud. Silcox explains various facets of a Philadelphia high school's PennServe program and shows how school-based service has changed attitudes, values, and relationships and enlivened…

Describes programs that have arisen since the Pennsylvania state board authorized local school districts and intermediate units to organize inservice programs that can provide the coursework necessary for permanent certification and for Master's Equivalency Certificates. (Author/IRT)

The fragmentation in many children's homes and neighborhoods is reflected in their schools. To reform the nation's urban schools, educators must find ways to take collective responsibility for students' performance over their entire school careers. Reorganization according to feeder-pattern clusters can help teachers from various school levels…