This digest offers camp leaders, outdoor experiential educators, school and college faculty, or youth agency staff who are interested in nurturing youth leaders a framework for designing youth leadership programs which employ an outdoor setting as a "leadership classroom." Basic categories for leadership theory are defined: trait theory,…

To help guide family literacy program developers in shaping their curriculum, and educators and community leaders in creating independent parenting programs, this digest describes the parenting education component of successful urban programs. In general, family literacy programs have three basic components: adult education, parenting education,…

A growing number of urban school reform initiatives seeking to transform failing schools engage significant numbers of parents. Many such initiatives have succeeded in improving student academic achievement and transforming the culture of schools. This digest describes common characteristics of such projects. While the best among these projects is…

Most language and international studies high schools (LISHS) are established as public magnet schools and stress voluntary enrollment. Generally, the academic curriculum emphasizes foreign languages, social sciences, and communications for participation in an international environment. Students are expected to graduate with functional competence…

Until very recently, ethical issues were given little attention in administrator-preparation programs. This digest outlines the ethical responsibilities of school leaders and the dilemmas that they face. It offers the following suggestions for resolving ethical dilemmas: (1) Leaders should have and be willing to act on a definite sense of ethical…

Until very recently, ethical issues were given little attention in administrator-preparation programs. This digest in Spanish outlines the ethical responsibilities of school leaders and the dilemmas that they face. It offers the following suggestions for resolving ethical dilemmas: (1) Leaders should have and be willing to act on a definite sense…

An internationally acclaimed program that challenges American notions of appropriate early education is the municipal early childhood program in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The town's liberal financial support of child care and citizen membership in school committees indicate strong community support. Parents are involved in school policy discussions,…

Coalition building and school restructuring unfortunately do not always occur together. But the two forces can complement each other and combine their resources and strengths. Coalitions are organizations or groups of individuals who share a commitment to a particular issue. Although coalitions involved in school restructuring may in the long run…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), a private, nonprofit body, was established in 1987 to address the need for uniform teaching criteria and improved methods for gauging how well such standards are met. The NBPTS is comprised of 63 members who are teachers (the majority), school administrators, local board members,…

This digest describes the nature and implications of scientifically based research (SBR). SBR grew out of the No Child Left Behind act of 2001, which stipulates that federally funded programs and practices must be grounded in scientifically based research. Scientifically based research is defined here as "persuasive research that empirically…

Within the last 5 years, policymakers and practitioners have confronted the challenge of replacing many retiring educational leaders. To address this issue, standards for educators themselves have been proposed, some modeled around those of the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). Attention is also turning to advanced…

Because of its pervasive "image problem," vocational education (VE) is not being given high priority by leaders of the new vocational education school reform movement and it is being forced to compete against others in the arena of education for a shrinking student population and scarce resources. Like other service industries, VE has…

This ERIC Digest reports on the findings of a 1984 Wingspread Conference on Strengthening High School World Studies Courses. The digest considers key challenges that the course poses for educators, the goals of the conference, long-term efforts that have been initiated, activities recommended by conference participants that would provide practical…

Disruptive behavior, which can range from tardiness to violence against classmates or staff members, is a growing problem in adult basic education (ABE). Many feel that this is because ABE programs have begun serving young adults below the age of 18 who are quite different from their more mature classmates both psychologically and emotionally.…

Living in a world-class society with information-age technology challenges American educators to improve their communication and collaboration skills. Recent discussions concerning the school counselor's role in education emphasized the need to achieve a clearer understanding of this role in educational reform, and a desire to improve counselor…