Urban education is a complex system that is often shrouded in stereotypes, labels, and barriers. Service-learning is well-entrenched in suburban institutions, but is a fledgling or grassroots organization in the urban education community. Often, suburban service-learning initiatives have taken the tone of community service in that it is often…

Influenced by Third World Liberation social movements in the United States and abroad, this article applies a serve-the-people concept to service-learning in education. Rooted in pedagogies more traditionally associated with ethnic studies and community organizing, and informed by sociocultural and critical frameworks in education, this article…

This article describes a critical service-learning project that resulted from an educational partnership among a national teachers' union, a local teachers' union, and a major research university. The partnership-funded by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, Learn and Serve program--focused on professional…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) of 2010 represent a new chapter in the 25-year history of standards-based reforms (SBR). The CCSS attempts to bring the system back to the principles of its founding--more rigorous, focused, academic content and performance expectations collectively embraced by the nation. The new standards depart…

This article focuses on the importance of recognizing and appreciating the ways that a teacher integrates her personal and professional life with an English-only policy. Much can be learned from the ways in which she negotiates social forces and integrates them into her individual reality while making sense of the restrictive language policy.…

Our article focuses on using portfolio assessment to craft quality teaching. Extant research literature on portfolio assessment suggests that the primary purpose of assessment is to serve learning, and portfolio assessments facilitate the process of making linkages among assessment, curriculum, and student learning (Asp, 2000; Bergeron, Wermuth,…

Developing teachers' knowledge about assessing English language learners (ELLs) is critical for achieving intended policy outcomes of improving teaching under Race to the Top policy and Common Core State Standards. In addition to teachers' expressed concerns about teaching Common Core State Standards to ELLs in a national survey…

Historically, the mission of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) schools emphasized providing gifted and talented students with advanced STEM coursework. However, a newer type of STEM school is emerging in the United States: inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs). ISHSs have open enrollment and are focused on preparing…

It is of great importance to maximize access to general education for all students with disabilities. This article focuses on how leaders create inclusive schools for all students--inclusive school reform. Inclusive school reform can result in all students with disabilities being placed into general education settings (including students with…

In this article, we provide an empirically based framework for school leaders to support the replacement of separate means of providing services for English learners (ELs) with more inclusive learning supports. The framework encompasses evidence on cultivating language proficiency, ensuring access to a high-quality curriculum, and promoting…

This article identifies historical and contemporary influences of religion in US public schooling. It provides analytical questions that social justice leaders can use to evaluate the practices embedded in their own schools, including an equity audit.

We present a case example of a school leader whose understanding of both in- and out-of-school policies and issues supported 2 students who experienced severe trauma. We describe some of the principal's key beliefs and practices that led to the development of a justice-oriented school, and then contextualize her work in a "social…

Bronfenbrenner's (1977) classic ecological theory is used as a framework to review the documented risk and protective factors associated with involvement in school-related bullying during childhood and adolescence. Microsystems such as peers (socialization during adolescence), family (violence, lack of parental monitoring), community…

Human beings have a fundamental need to belong, for ongoing positive interactions with others who provide companionship and caring (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Children may hit, exclude, or harass others electronically because when their own needs for belongingness are threatened, or when they want to enhance their own status, they lash out and…

Social cognitive theory (SCT) is an important heuristic for understanding the complexity of bullying behaviors and the social nature of involvement in bullying. Bullying has been heralded as a social relationship problem, and the interplay between the individual and his or her social environment supports this conceptualization. SCT has been used…