Positive youth development (PYD), while embraced in many sectors of youth work, has faced criticism for its primary emphasis on positive personal change and adaptation, without a strong emphasis on social justice and culture, especially relevant for African Americans. Additional models of PYD addressing these conceptual gaps have emerged, however…

This article details how a team of fourth-grade teachers in Rockingham County, Virginia used the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) to deepen student understanding of Barbara Johns and the Moton Student Strike's fight for racial justice in Virginia and to reframe their overall approach to Black history in general. Although Rockingham County Schools are…

This article explores connections between language and the social inclusion of immigrants. It analyses three different models of immigration settlement: assimilation, integration through social capital, and inclusion. It then explores how education - and in particular the teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) - can promote…

Over the past two decades, research on urban schools has focused predominantly on achievement gaps. However, achievement gaps exist because of gaps in opportunities for urban, low-income, and racially/ethnically diverse students. Partnerships among schools, families, and communities can provide the enrichment opportunities, support, resources, and…

Purpose: The author describes how rehabilitation counselor educators can incorporate the feminist perspective in teaching rehabilitation counselors-in-training by exploring history, core values, and training methods of feminism. Method: Based on a literature review, the author compares philosophy and concepts of rehabilitation counseling and…

Family literacy initiatives are historically rooted in positivism. In relationship to family literacy, the positivist paradigm is dangerous, as it strips the participants of power and removes their opportunities for voice. In response, a socially just approach to family literacy intervention is offered here. This approach embraces the context of…

This article examines how non-governmental organizations create resources and spaces for girls and women's education and empowerment in China, India and Pakistan--in the context of global expectations and local state relations as well as cultural norms. We examine the dynamics that foster female empowerment associated with educational attainment.…

This is a brief reply to Malewski's response to our article, "Disciplined Judgment: Toward a Reasonably Constrained Constructivism." There are several essential problems with the arguments presented in his article: (a) first, the intentions ascribed to our project in Dr. Malewski's response are inaccurate; (b) the response is supported…

Internationally teachers are called upon to act as agents of change. However, there is little clarity about the kind of change teachers are expected to contribute to and even less empirical evidence about the ways teacher agency operates in schools and beyond. Empirical analyses of teacher agency require a clear articulation of the purpose and…

School systems across the world are facing a plethora of global changes that dictate rethinking instructional practices and professional leadership roles. School reformers are constantly facing the challenges dictated by the universal culture that exerts a huge power on learning and teaching, and leading. This article introduces a comprehensive…

This paper presents a participatory research approach to the study of youth activism within a community development and movement-building program. It employs participatory ethnography theory and methods to explore an innovative model of social change for social justice. Building on community youth development and transformative social work…

Social justice counseling, like all humanistic models, recognizes the dignity of each human being, affirms the right of all people to choose and work toward their own goals, and asserts the importance of service to community. The social justice paradigm brings a special emphasis on the role of the environment. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

W.E.B. Du Bois offered an educational theory that sought to contextualize the role of schools and their relevance to social justice. Responding to the social-historical malaise of African American subordination, he proposed that schools could provide the impetus towards cultural, economic, and political empowerment. Moreover, his theory of…

In this article, we propose a model of the process of empowerment. The notion of empowerment is compelling and much employed across many subfields inside and outside of psychology, but the lack of consistency in the ways prior literature has defined it is an obstacle to meaningful synthesis of findings and consistent application in practice. Our…

Social justice is a complex and abstract concept that can be difficult to discuss and integrate within group work. To address this concern, this article introduces readers to the Dimensions of Social Justice Model. The model provides group leaders with a conceptual framework for understanding the degree to which social justice is integrated within…