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Nine secondary teachers who were taught to use one model of deliberation, Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) (Johnson and Johnson 1979), were matched with nine teachers in their schools who taught similar grade levels and subjects. Teachers in the Deliberation Classes engaged students in three deliberations across six months. Deliberations focused on current public issues, such as whether violent juvenile off enders should be tried as adults. Five of the nine classroom pairs were analyzed using both pre-and postquestionnaires. There were no statistically significant differences in the pre-and postquestionnaire responses of students in the Deliberation Classes (n = 244) and Comparison Classes (n = 249) in terms of self-reported issue knowledge. Variance in student opinion in the Deliberation Classes showed a signifi cant decrease. Students in the Deliberation Classes (n = 297) demonstrated greater perspective-taking abilities than students in the Comparison Classes (n = 238). Within classes, diversity of opinion regarding issues was evident.

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This study examines national narratives constructed by the authors based on survey responses of students (n=3273) from nine Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and the United States. Students were asked to name events and heroes important to their nations' pasts. The authors used a framework based on the work of James Wertsch to construct and interpret the national narratives. Findings indicate that there was a high level of agreement between the students of each country about their national stories. In addition to the high level of agreement about what events and people belonged in the story of the nations, the narratives described by the students all fall within the mainstream national narratives of each country. Further analysis reveals the uniqueness of each of the CEE nations' post-communist paths. The ways in which all students understand the relationships between the distant and more recent pasts give insight into the ways in which the narratives of these nations are being reshaped.

The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive, study is to help us better understand how a small group of Hmong immigrant adolescents conceptualize their political and civic citizenship in the United States. Three focus groups including a total of 18 Hmong middle/junior high school adolescents were carried out in order to garner data. Upon data analysis and interpretation, it was determined that study participants consider rights and responsibilities important to citizenship in a democracy and participate in various social, political, academic, and environmental activities. Study participants emphasize the community good over personal self-interests. As Hmong culture tends to be more collectivist in nature, this value orientation may be incompatible with the curriculum, instruction, and philosophy that students experience in public schools: Hmong youth may experience educational disadvantage. Adolescents in this study are developing their conceptions of citizenship within a racialized, hierarchical society and they explained their experiences with racialization and how they understand white privilege.