Teachers are natural problem solvers, and they should be using this quality to their advantage when it comes to solving the systemic issues that plague Philadelphia's education system. Many of the articles in this issue have already gone into great detail about what is happening in Philadelphia. Torch Lytle has provided a summary of the…

This paper examines Action Research into School Exclusion (Project ARISE), a two-year research partnership between K-12 students and university researchers. Based on the principles of participatory action research (PAR), the project intentionally brought together university researchers, K-12 students, and pre-service teachers to bridge research…

Project Coach is an after school program developed and directed by the authors. The program, which is set in a high-need urban community in Springfield, Massachusetts, teaches high school and middle school students to be sport coaches and then to run youth sport leagues for elementary-aged youth in underserved neighborhoods in their own community.…

This article explores the process of problem framing in research, and considers the ethics of the framing in the context of the author's dual role as a researcher and educator seeking to engender learning amongst partnership stakeholders. In doing so, the author attends to issues of agency in partnership research by providing the situational…

Collaborations and partnerships among schools and community members have been described as a way to provide better educational opportunities for students. Such school-community partnerships have been described as relationships that involve exchange and engagement with mutually defined goals benefiting all participants. However, the process of…

One of the hallmarks of the American system of higher education is its diversity: there are more than 4,000 institutions of varying sizes, types, and purposes. Unlike centrally planned systems, the American higher education landscape is a tapestry of institutions--public and private, selective and open-access--each with a distinct mission and…

Interested in bringing the benefits of the arts as integral to quality education for all children, in 2004 the Ford Foundation launched the National Arts Education Initiative, a seven-year demonstration in nine communities across the United States. Building from arts education programs that serve "pockets" of children, Ford investments aim to…

Over the last five years, the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ), a new, small public high school in Brooklyn, and The Essentials, a professional theater company, have joined forces to offer a low-budget, high-quality, in-house afterschool theater program for SLJ students. Both SLJ and The Essentials were in nascent stages when the…

As educators deliberate on how to provide a well-rounded education for all, the idea of working more collaboratively with a range of arts education providers has become increasingly attractive. Allowing outside organizations and individuals to gain access to institutions in a more evenhanded way and create long-term relationships that reinforce…

In this technological age, where mind and body are increasingly disconnected in the classroom, object-based learning--along with strong museum-school partnerships--provide many benefits for student learning. In this article, the author first outlines some of the special mind-body connections that object-based learning in museums affords learners…

On December 26, 2004, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake--the most powerful in more than 40 years--struck deep under the Indian Ocean. It was centered about 100 miles southwest off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia, and triggered massive tsunamis across the coasts of Asia and Africa. In Aceh province, located at the northwest tip of the island of Sumatra in…

In this first-person paper, educator Dr. Lionel Brown takes a sweeping look at the racial crises that have erupted in his home city of Cincinnati during his lifetime, and proposes that education is the only real, long-term way of addressing and disrupting the repeating pattern of violence. He highlights a selection of current and proposed…

Describes what the Tellin' Stories Project (TSP) Action Research Team discovered about meaningful family involvement during a 3-year study of teachers', students', and parents' stories of meaningful family roles. The TSP uses the power of story to engage parents, primarily from diverse low-income backgrounds, as purposeful partners in education.…