Examines the policy leadership of the Boston School Committee in dealing with challenges faced by the Boston public school system during the past decade. The author's primary concern is how well the school districts and staff are able to provide optimal learning opportunities to all students. Assumes that this can best be appraised in terms of…

Introduces an 11-step organizational audit designed to help administrators in the sport and activity sector, as well as the traditional business sector, create a friendly, encouraging environment for all. The 11 steps are: empowerment; rewards; evaluation; mission statement; policy manuals; resources; communication; organizational structure;…

Suggests that student affairs professionals must continue to encourage ethnic minority students to become widely involved in student governance activities. Notes that this involvement will help to foster an environment that promotes human growth and development; it will also aid the institution in retaining these students. (Author)

Addresses various remedies that courts have assigned when schools fail to comply with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Covers traditional remedies such as reimbursement for residential placements, related services, and legal fees, with an added emphasis on the increasingly used remedy of compensatory education and the potential for…

This discussion of funding for assistive technology devices for children with disabilities addresses how to locate community funding sources, set priorities, increase peoples' awareness of technological applications, and encourage parental involvement. An annotated bibliography lists seven items on funding, and a chart shows an example of an…

States that in order to provide an empowering and liberating education for students, especially for young women, it is essential that the history curriculum describe, understand, and value women's contributions. Provides examples of two diaries that can be used in history classes to teach about young women from the past. (LS)

Reports how the prolonged 1978 Levittown (New York) teachers strike initially depleted resources and created problems but proved to be the impetus for development of an effective school system. Reviews sources of conflict that led to the strike, reactions of community and teachers, and reforms focused on teacher empowerment. (FMW)

Discusses the "confidence factor" in pupils' attitudes about mathematics and the part it plays in their learning process. The authors outline three intervention strategies, drawing on British experience, that may encourage girls to develop confidence. (GR)

This study evaluated locus of control orientations, perceptions of efficacy, and outcome expectancies of 282 adolescents with mental retardation and compared them to students with learning disabilities and at-risk students. Subjects were found to hold unrealistic understandings and perceptions of causality and excessively external global…

This article integrates literature from counseling, rehabilitation, multicultural education, and special education to explain the importance of life-span considerations, including the preschool and early school years, and the life-space factors of family, culture, and community. Principles for transition interventions which promote empowerment are…

Discusses the role of story-telling in the political empowerment of the oppressed. Describes how the uncritical reliance on stories has led to the failure in the classroom to acknowledge the risks taken by various oppressed groups when they attempt to critically reflect and build coalitions. (JB)

Considers experiences of over 200 women, in eight countries, involved in nonformal education, and results of selected nonformal education programs offered by governments, nongovernmental organizations, and educational institutions across the Caribbean and South Pacific. Uses a participatory approach in order to involve the women in analysis of the…

The Indian Children's Parliament (Rajastan, India) emerged from the Social Work and Research Centre (later known as the Barefoot College), which provides academic and vocational classes at night for rural working children. These children contribute to family incomes, but previously their opinions were not acknowledged. Students elect 17 Parliament…

The Peruvian national indigenous federation established a bilingual, intercultural teachers' training program to counter stereotypes of indigenous people portrayed in the authoritarian, monolingual Spanish national curriculum, and to enhance language preservation, ethnic mobilization, and cultural survival. A complementary transitional bilingual…

Discusses implications of the Technology-Related Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities Act (1988, 1994) for people with learning disabilities. It discusses the rationale for the act; its provisions and goals; and systems change and advocacy activities of state projects concerning policy analysis, funding, interagency collaboration, consumer…