Robert P. Moses, teacher and Civil Rights activist, discusses contributions of his Algebra Project for predominantly minority youngsters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Taking and passing algebra in the eighth grade qualifies students for high-school honors math courses and improves their chances to enter college. Transforming neighborhood schools is…

Compared to home life, schools resemble crossroads, village squares, marketplaces, and cities. Increasing deliberative interactions among diverse students helps instill habits of behavior necessary for public life: the courtesies, manners, tolerance, respect, sense of justice, and knack for forging public policy with others. This article explains…

Facing increasing standardization and accountability pressures, schools struggle to retain democratic ideals while seeking alternative visions. The standards movement defines a well-educated citizen as a technologically adept, economically savvy college graduate. Democracy flourishes only when protecting the marketplace of ideas and a diversity of…

Although the United States is clearly a melting pot, the country has generally held monolingualism in English as the gold standard of U.S. citizenship for immigrants. Fewer than one in 10 students at U.S. colleges major in foreign languages, and only 9 percent learn the most widely spoken languages in the world, such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian,…

Lee Shulman's vision of good teaching includes nurturing students' moral and spiritual development, civic engagement, and socialization. High-stakes tests do not embody standards. When evaluating and rewarding teachers, mentoring and monitoring functions should be separated. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards improvement incentives…

The nation's educational system mirrors the dynamics of our marketplace democracy, recasting parents as self-interested consumers. Jane Addams' philosophy of education (enhancing people's productive capacities to benefit the commonweal) has been revived in Public Achievement, a work-centered, civic-earning program in St.Paul, Minnesota, that helps…

Deplores the demise of progressive education and the current movement to turn schools and other public institutions over to private greed and political self-interest. Instead of blaming teachers, critics should rectify teaching/learning conditions and level the school resources playing field. It is time to construct a new curriculum forged from…

The "disappearance" of civic America and atrophy of face-to-face associational life have become major social concerns. Meanwhile, governmental systems are decentralizing, and education remains very political. Striving to reinvigorate civic education for youth is not enough. Educators must further democratize education by involving…

Research that studied 120 youth organizations in 34 different communities discovered that most disadvantaged participants gained academic life skills lasting into early adulthood. Schools can help by sharing space and facilities, establishing institutional collaborations, connecting mutual goals, supporting teacher participation, and developing…

Students attending a Minnesota school in a middle-class neighborhood are finding that cooperation, conflict resolution, and civic values are creating a safe haven from the stresses of family and neighborhood life. Students have two innovative programs (Continuous Progress and Discovery) to choose from. Highlands Elementary nurtures its students…

Instead of inviting public engagement, the current educational system reinforces a hierarchical, bureaucratic pattern that gives neither students nor parents an official voice. Today's parents are demanding, more market-oriented, and organizing on the Internet. Strategies for fully involving parents in improvements for the common good are…

The City Montessori School, a private, nonprofit school in Luchnow, India, provides an exemplary education for K-12 students by focusing on both academic excellence and children's emotional and spiritual well-being. Four building blocks (universal values, excellence, global understanding, and service) are guiding principles for educating the whole…

Economic inequality is tearing our civil society apart. Addressing this problem through school governance reforms (vouchers, privatization, and charter schools), or curriculum changes (teaching new basic skills), or a new instructional focus (Rifkin's civil sector) ignores the real challenge: redistributing wealth and softening inequalities.…