The Canadian Education Association (CEA) has just completed a research project that looked at young people's confidence in their learning environments and their future. We know that students' future trust in institutions is significantly shaped by their school experiences, in particular by whether there is an open climate for classroom discussion…

"realfriends" is a social action project created by Grade 12 English students in Windsor, Nova Scotia. Its purpose was to create a face-to-face social network that would help change the school climate into a more social space. Interest in socializing is nothing new for teenagers, but these students articulated a worry that people their…

Safe school policies in many urban schools in Ontario have featured security guards, electronic surveillance, student identification tags, discipline, and zero tolerance. In 2000, the Ontario Ministry of Education passed the Safe Schools Act, which set out a list of offences that could trigger expulsion, suspension, and other disciplinary…

District administrators, principals and teachers need "leading indicators" that provide a framework for intervention, can be used to guide school policy and practice, and can help staff identify issues relevant to particular students or groups of students. In this article, the authors describe "Tell Them From Me", an assessment…

The Stress Management in Children Project initiated at an Edmunston (New Brunswick) primary school uses visualization as its primary tool. Visualization, a process whereby people respond to certain themes through mental images, is used to manage stress, as a learning method, as a tool for emotional development, and to explore different levels of…

Cites findings of a study of 242 students enrolled in the University of British Columbia teacher education programs which suggest students may not be adequately prepared for managing mainstreamed classrooms. Discusses implications for the Canadian educational policy of placing handicapped children in mainstreamed classrooms and for teacher…

Following September 11, some students in a computer-assisted journalism lab in Canada made disgraceful comments based on ignorance and misinformation regarding the school's Arabic-speaking members. However, a few articles and two news reports helped change the atmosphere as students began to recognize the individuals within stereotyped groups. (TD)

As part of an evaluation of a school-based mediation program, 35 student mediators and 35 control students in grades 5-7 from six schools were surveyed concerning conduct at school, school climate, attitudes toward fights, self-esteem, and problems-solving skills. Results indicate the program had positive effects on student mediators, particularly…

Identifies elements of successful approaches for at-risk students. Discusses three educational ideologies, five evaluation criteria that reflect overall school quality, joint use of internal and external evaluation, the importance of school culture, balancing common and culturally relevant curricula, professional development of teachers, classroom…