This article reports findings from a case study of district leadership for school, family, and community partnerships in an urban system in the northeast United States. Analyses suggest that collaboration between the district’s office of parent involvement and a community-based organization (CPIO) has helped to support and sustain school, family, and community partnerships as a reform initiative in the district for nearly a decade.

This longitudinal study combines two related ethnographic data sets to examine how teachers and students at a public magnet elementary school coconstructed a discourse of inquiry that supported students as thoughtful, engaged learners and community members.

This article considers the ways in which school systems in New York City and Amsterdam have shaped the educational trajectories of two groups of relatively disadvantaged immigrant youth: the children of Dominican immigrants in New York and the children of Moroccan immigrants in Amsterdam. It describes the salient features of the two educational systems and the ways in which they structure opportunity for children of immigrants.

This article gives an overview of the history of the emergence of the middle and working classes in America and describes key characteristics of these cultures as they manifest themselves today. It then explores the effect of class culture on our conceptions of democracy.

A critique of current educational policies effects on teaching and teacher education, focusing on the redefinition of teaching in new economic and cultural conditions.

This article examines how student voice activities can lead to increases in “youth development” outcomes for young people—especially for students who otherwise do not find meaning in their school experiences.

The authors argue that society holds largely negative views of youth. As a result, at least in part, too many youth are left alone or are given very little guidance and support. We must begin to view youth as an investment instead of a burden if we are to sustain the quality of our society.

This paper challenges the traditional interpretation of the origins of the North American summer calendar by suggesting that the roots of the presently defined school year were more influenced by multiple pressures arising from increasing urbanization, than by the demands of farm life. Examining why there has been such resistance to changing the school calendar, the paper investigates the calendar’s ties with changes over time in the construction of other “clocks” of society. Finally, we consider the school calendar as part of a larger ongoing discussion on what constitutes effectiveness of schools.

This study presents data collected from a nationally-representative sample of teachers of 1st through 6th graders (N=553). Using teacher-completed time diaries, we examine students’ total time in school and their activities while there.

This article examines the origins of the National Parent-Teacher Association and questions its current image as a white, middle-class women’s association.

We consider the role of anthropology and its central construct—culture—in the study of education.

While there has been a great deal of recognition in the business world that information and knowledge management can be vital tools in organizations, it is only recently that educational administrators have begun to look at how they might use information systems to assist in creating effective learning environments. In the business research environment, the evolution from data to information and from information to knowledge plays a leading role in shaping how organizations develop strategies and plans for the future. Using examples from schools, this paper illustrates how knowledge management can enable schools to examine the plethora of data they collect, and how an ecological framework can be used to transform these data into meaningful information.

This is a study of assessment of groupwork. Students are informed of evaluation criteria. As hypothesized, groups that knew the criteria used to evaluate their group product, had higher quality discussions and better group products than groups without these criteria.

This study explores the ways that race- and gender-matched role models can provide young people with a greater sense of the opportunities available to them in the world.

The authors use their experience with a professional development project to propose a model of teacher community in the workplace.

The authors point to the role of cultural resources in establishing the gap between educational theory and practice. They illustrate their argument by using a situation in which an educational theory is imprisoned by contradicting cultural resources.

This is an essay about the small amount of time youth spend in school. It speaks to how schooling has come to be the answer for all our educational aims and expectations, and the alternatives to what is, at best, currently a weak educational intervention.

The author takes a close look at Waller’s classic text to see how well it holds up and what it offers first-time readers of educational sociology today. In this review, the author locates Waller’s work within the social psychology of W. I. Thomas, places it against the backdrop of the American pragmatists, and pays attention to Waller’s keen interest in the works of Sigmund and Anna Freud.

Adolescents have no prepared, appreciated, approved place in society, so they tackle identity formation and development of self-worth and self-efficacy on their own. Society must change its view that youth are troubled or harmful and instead provide opportunities for meaningful roles for adolescents, particularly those without many years of formal education.

A discussion of the effects of the mass media, particularly the influence of violence and sex, on adolescents.

Though a growing U.S. consensus acknowledges that adolescents live in diverse communities with widely varying experiences, schools and communities are slow to adopt America's social transformations. Adolescent behavior is profoundly shaped by how adults organize teens' educational and social experiences. Education must guide teens toward productive, meaningful adulthood.

The United States has no systematic procedure to help secondary students transition from school to employment. That lack most adversely affects poor and minority students. This article examines successful school to work transitioning in Japan and Germany and notes that businesses and governments must recognize their responsibilities in preparing youth to make the transition.

Schools and adolescent students in today's society need support from surrounding communities and meaningful people. Community organizations of all kinds are important for recreating the critical aspects of community that once made it possible to grow up and participate in the mainstream of society.

This article discusses the resurgence of school-based community health, mental health, and social services during a period of social upheaval, focusing on improving adolescent health through school-based initiatives. Three appendices describe school-based health service programs in New Jersey and Mississippi.

The author presents a historical overview of the development of junior high schools for young adolescents, focusing on the unique physical, emotional, and social needs of that population. This article examines the views of James Conant, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, and a junior high school teacher.

As school communities encourage healthy human relationships, they allow young people to create similar relationships independently. This article suggests that students need caring adults who know them well and model appropriate relationship building.

Intentional social support is crucial in reducing the risk of poor health and diminished educational attainment for adolescents facing various challenges and risks. This article examines ingredients of successful adolescent social support programs, notes supportive school and community environments, and looks at various programs designed to support adolescents.