Civic Engagement and Service-Learning with Young Children: lntergenerational Peacemaking Projects: By the students, volunteers and staff of Peace Games

Violence, in all of its forms, continues to make learning difficult, if not impossible, for a substantial number of children. While high-profile incidences such as the Columbine High School shootings grab the public\u27s attention, it is the daily difficulties of bullies, intimidation and fear that affect students in all schools (Twemlow, 2001 )

Making the Case for Social and Emotional Learning and Service-Learning

This ECS Issue Brief provides an overview and description of both social and emotional learning (SEL) and service-learning (S-L) as tools to improve the lives and academic performance of students. It describes how the two practices are interrelated and the research evidence that supports the expanded use of both practices in the classroom. Also provided are descriptions of the essential elements required of successful SEL and S-L programs, examples of such successful programs that are in existence today, and a discussion of state activities and experiences. Lastly, the brief discusses a series of likely challenges that education leaders implementing SEL and S-L programs could face. The brief offers recommendations and advice for addressing such challenges and provides lists of available resources where more information can be found. The brief represents the first step of a new partnership of three prominent national organizations – the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC), and the Laboratory for Student Success (LSS). This new partnership was formed to assist education leaders in integrating social and emotional learning and service-learning programs and policies into their states, districts and schools. The following brief is intended to be the first in a series of papers exploring aspects of both SEL and S-L. More information on this new partnership is available on the following Web sites (www.ecs.org/clc, www.casel.org and www.temple.edu/lss/)

Promising Practice for K-16 - Project Connect: School-University Collaboration for Service-Learning

Partnership is a recurring theme in education these days: partnerships between schools and communities, between colleges and nonprofit organizations, between high schools and elementary schools, and between K-12 and higher education systems. Whether one refers to the latter partnerships as K-16, Pre-K-H or K-PhD, what truly defines them is the level and type of interactions among the school, university and community

Do early life cognitive ability and self-regulation skills explain socio-economic inequalities in academic achievement? An effect decomposition analysis in UK and Australian cohorts

SSocio-economic inequalities in academic achievement emerge early in life and are observed across the globe. Cognitive ability and “non-cognitive” attributes (such as self-regulation) are the focus of many early years’ interventions. Despite this, little research has compared the contributions of early cognitive and self-regulation abilities as separate pathways to inequalities in academic achievement. We examined this in two nationally representative cohorts in the UK (Millennium Cohort Study, n = 11,168; 61% original cohort) and Australia (LSAC, n = 3028; 59% original cohort). An effect decomposition method was used to examine the pathways from socio-economic disadvantage (in infancy) to two academic outcomes: ‘low’ maths and literacy scores (based on bottom quintile) at age 7–9 years. Risk ratios (RRs, and bootstrap 95% confidence intervals) were estimated with binary regression for each pathway of interest: the ‘direct effect’ of socio-economic disadvantage on academic achievement (not acting through self-regulation and cognitive ability in early childhood), and the ‘indirect effects’ of socio-economic disadvantage acting via self-regulation and cognitive ability (separately). Analyses were adjusted for baseline and intermediate confounding. Children from less advantaged families were up to twice as likely to be in the lowest quintile of maths and literacy scores. Around two-thirds of this elevated risk was ‘direct’ and the majority of the remainder was mediated by early cognitive ability and not self-regulation. For example in LSAC: the RR for the direct pathway from socio-economic disadvantage to poor maths scores was 1.46 (95% CI: 1.17–1.79). The indirect effect of socio-economic disadvantage through cognitive ability (RR = 1.13 [1.06–1.22]) was larger than the indirect effect through self-regulation (1.05 [1.01–1.11]). Similar patterns were observed for both outcomes and in both cohorts. Policies to alleviate social inequality (e.g. child poverty reduction) remain important for closing the academic achievement gap. Early interventions to improve cognitive ability (rather than self-regulation) also hold potential for reducing inequalities in children's academic outcomes.Anna Pearce, Alyssa C.P. Sawyer, Catherine R. Chittleborough Murthy N. Mittinty Catherine Law, John W. Lync

The terror that underpins the ‘peace’: The political economy of Colombia’s paramilitary demobilisation process

Studies on terrorism have traditionally focused on non-state actors who direct violence against liberal states. Such studies have also tended to focus on political motivations and, therefore, have neglected the economic functions of terrorism. This article challenges the divorce of the political and economic spheres by highlighting how states can use terrorism to realise interconnected political and economic goals. To demonstrate this, we take the case of the paramilitary demobilisation process in Colombia and show how it relates to the US-Colombian free trade agreement (FTA). We argue that the demobilisation process fulfils a dual role. Firstly, the process aims to improve the image of the Colombian government required to pass the controversial FTA through US Congress in order to protect large amounts of US investment in the country. Secondly, the demobilisation process serves to mask clear continuities in paramilitary terror which serve mutually supportive political and economic functions for US investment in Colombia

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 1

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