In 2006, Una, the feminist student organization at Saint Louis University (SLU)--a midsized, Midwestern, urban, Jesuit/Catholic university--was denied campus space to perform Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," an episodic play that portrays women's experiences with their bodies to raise awareness and funds for charitable organizations…

In recent decades, universities have made significant progress toward environmental sustainability and have likewise tightened their budgets and restructured economic models in the name of financial sustainability. However, institutions of higher education have failed to address issues of social sustainability and social injustice, many of which…

This review of research suggests a need for service-learning programs that empower Latina/o students. Research on the status of Latina/os in higher education and key challenges to Latina/o student success highlights the demand for innovative programmatic solutions. A review of postcolonialist educational and Latina/o student identity theory along…

This qualitative case study explored the perceptions and practices of three teachers who teach social justice concepts in kindergarten and 2nd grade classrooms in an urban school district in the Northwest region of the United States. The research sought to answer the following central questions: (a) What do teachers perceive about how instruction…

Social justice education is undertheorized in science education. Given the wide range of goals and purposes proposed within both social justice education and social justice science education scholarship, these fields require reconciliation. In this paper, I suggest a student empowerment framework for conceptualizing teaching and learning social…

The psychological, social, and emotional aspects of education have enjoyed increased attention in recent years as often termed "non-cognitive factors" and "soft skills" have gained traction in research, policy, and practice circles as major drivers of student achievement. This renewed attention represents an important shift, as…

The purpose of this essay is to ameliorate the virulent discursive and material attack against today's "border" youth launched by large-scale corporations and Western politicians. Specifically, the authors problematize the dominant tropes of youth being mindless, obedient objects who passively accept the stark social reality they…

This study examines innovative practices that have been implemented in a summer session for an elementary school district in the Chicago area, and how program practices of a community college program work to provide academic support for first-generation, college-bound students from low-income households to encourage postsecondary educational…

This investigation uncovered the conditions of learning, both positive and negative, that students in an alternative school experienced both in and out of the classroom setting. Eleven students at an alternative high school in a large suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest were interviewed using methods of narrative inquiry and…

There are new pressures and familiar pressures on teacher educators to prepare teachers who will be able to teach successfully in a changing world, and who will be able to change the world. The question of how to prepare well-qualified teachers has become an international question with global responses and consequences. This book describes a…

In an effort to explore the complexity of how teachers develop and sustain the ability to teach uncommonly in commonsense times, the authors conducted a life history case study of Rae, a fifth grade teacher at a local elementary school in the Southwest United States who has practiced and sustained uncommon teaching for four years. Combining…

This article explores the theme of the "two faces of education" by reviewing new policy directives in the United Kingdom to strengthen community cohesion in schools and their communities. These directives have resulted from growing disaffection with the aims and outcomes of multiculturalism. This article will investigate the ways in…

In this dissertation, I study how Taiwanese vocational students as an oppressed group within the higher education system perceive, interpret, adapt or resist, and struggle to change the inequitable social structure. The theoretical framework in this research is constructed from Paulo Freire's ideas in "Pedagogy of the Oppressed,"…

This book is motivated by the authors' experiences in working with students and their families in urban communities. They are particularly concerned about the urgent imperative to address the endemic educational and societal challenges that pervade the lives of urban students, particularly those who live in poverty, are of minority and immigrant…