Local school boards have traditionally carried most of the responsibility for providing public education. But now, as a result of a complex set of economic and demographic factors, new schemes are needed for providing education, such as the consolidation of small districts into ever-larger ones. (KH)

Changes in national demographics have altered how we define community. The community may be a geographic area of home life, a place for coming together voluntarily, or an association of people with similar interests and values. New communities must develop their own infrastructures and capacities for sustaining themselves. (SLD)

To mark New England Board of Higher Education's (NEBHE) 50th anniversary year, "Connection" invited a small group of visionary commentators to submit short "statements" on the future of New England's economic and civic development, tomorrow's technologies and the changing shape of higher education. This article includes the…