Resource Center

The IDRA Newsletter is published 10 times a year. Each edition focuses on issues in education, striving to provide many different perspectives on the topics covered and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. The IDRA Newsletter can only be mailed to U.S.addresses, but pdf and web copies are available online.

See PDF of this issue.

June-July 2012 Issue ~ Articles 

Student Voice – A Key Element in Effective School Governance and Accountability
Student voices are fundamentally critical in school reform efforts if they are to be successful. IDRA’s Pathways project has demonstrated ways of keeping student voice at the center of action planning. The project builds on IDRA’s Mendez Brown Fulfilling the Promise Blueprint Dialogues which have been gathering cross-sector Latino and African American leaders throughout states in the south and southwest to develop joint action for closing the gap and preparing students for college success. In this IDRA Newsletter article, Rosana G. Rodríguez, Ph.D., & Abelardo Villarreal, Ph.D., outline several different roles students can take.

Communities, School Boards and Education Policy
Public education has long been dependent on support from local communities, yet we are seeing a growing disconnect between educational professionals and their communities. Albert Cortez, Ph.D., considers why this has occurred and more importantly what is needed to strengthen these connections. He notes that IDRA’s interactions with local community-based organizations suggest that strong community interest in supporting and improving public schools is a highly underutilized resource at both the local and state levels.

A Pocket of Excellence in a Sea of Diversity – Magnet School Success
A number of years ago, IDRA study examined magnet schools in
Arkansas
,
Louisiana
,
New Mexico
,
Oklahoma
and
Texas looking at 12 areas research identified as important indicators of effectiveness when magnet schools are used as a strategy for desegregation. Bradley Scott, Ph.D., reviews those indicators in light of the successes at the Carroll High School Medical Magnet Program in northeastern
Louisiana that the IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity has assisted recently.

Six Teens Win National Essay Contest Award
Six students received prizes in a national competition among participants in the Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program, a nationally-recognized cross-age tutoring program of the Intercultural Development Research Association. Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program tutors wrote about how the program helped them do better in school and how they had helped their tutees to do better.Other short stories…

June-July 2012 Issue ~ Newsletter Plus 

Classnotes podcasts on creating a governance efficacy:

The Civil Rights Issue of Our Generation – April 29, 2011

Tool for Building Quality Schools – December 9, 2010

Teacher Communities of Practice – January 31, 2011

Helping Schools Address Issues of Race – August 25, 2009

Leading a Diverse Campus to Success – January 25, 2008

Photo-journal projects by youth in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in Canton, Mississippi

Canton, Mississippi Youth…On Opening Pathways to College

Winning essays by Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program students

Promoting Student Leadership on Campus: A Guide for Creating a Culture of Engagement (pdf)

Creating Your Education Blueprint for Action – Mendez and Brown Community Dialogues – A Launch Kit (pdf)

Expanding School Governance through Participatory Community Engagement, article by Abelardo Villarreal , Ph.D., & & Rosana G.  Rodríguez, Ph.D.

IDRA Graduation for All – March 2012 (bilingual English-Spanish): highlights the perspective of students in Canton in the context of cross-sector work that is underway to improve educational opportunity for all students in the state of Mississippi.

Beyond Random Acts: Family, School, and Community Engagement as an Integral Part of Education Reform, H.B. Weiss, M.E. Lopez, & H. Rosenberg.

Youth Matters, article by Josie Danini Cortez, M.A.