William Lowe Boyd's extraordinarily wide scope of intellectual interests is well represented in a rich mix of publications and presentations during his career. His work ranges from analyses of choice in education to matters of productivity, children's services, comparative school reform, educational leadership, school-community relations,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of student-community engagement in ensuring relevance of higher education to civil, social, economic and moral issues. It reviews the literature around three inter-related themes: calls for higher education institutions to engage with their communities; the kinds of attributes university…

School consolidation in rural districts has been ongoing since the 1800s. Although many district personnel tout economic inefficiency as a reason for consolidation to occur, micropolitics among school board members, parents, and the business community often drive the consolidation process. This article presents a qualitative case study of Webster…

Examining work and community relations in one Texas school district, this study explores intensifying managerialism under performance accountability (PA) pressures. Reports, press releases, and media accounts are combined with ethnographic study from one elementary school to explore the enactment of school district reforms. Locating PA within a…

This paper focuses on the socially constructed ideas that have come to be given the status of taken-for-granted knowledge within not one, but two, fields of professional practice in Northern Irish schools; community relations and special needs education. Dominant discourses were viewed as constructing norms around which educational professionals…

This study sought to determine the degree to which a body of successful supervision attributes actually exists in practice. Specifically, this investigation sought to determine: (1) To what extent are the twelve dimensions of supervisory practice from the 1989 ASCD Study currently being practiced among selected instructional leaders in two…

The purpose of this paper is to compare the approach to promoting positive relationships between Catholics and Protestants in two types of integrated primary school in Northern Ireland. Drawing on qualitative interviews with teachers, governors and parents in one transforming school and one grant maintained integrated school, i.e. one…

This report is the twenty-fifth in a series of surveys sponsored annually by MetLife since 1984 as a public service. This 25th anniversary edition includes the views of teachers, principals and students and looks back to the earliest MetLife Surveys to examine how perspectives on teachers, teaching and public education have changed. It documents…

After all the money spent, jobs allocated, new machinery and programs introduced, after all the publicity and conflict, and after all the bold rhetoric about the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Demonstration School District, New York City, the children of the district cannot read as well today as they did five years ago. (Author)

Naysayers should realize test scores show schools better than ever; public education is a bargain for all taxpayers; schools serve community and are safe places that do more for all children than before. Recent study shows that businesses use more supervisors than does public education. School and community are same. In sidebar, Dennis Birr…

When rapid growth and major educational changes created turbulence in Verona, Wisconsin, educators and community members used six strategies to weather the storm and improve conditions. They moved from controversial to less emotional issues, stressed consensus in decision making, imported a neutral listener, developed a forum for dialog,…

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including…

Schools cannot meet challenges of reform without first doing a better job of connecting with parents and the public. According to Public Agenda reports, educators are out of touch with typical views of parents and the public. Most people are doubtful about advocated practices such as detracking, holistic reading, early use of calculators, and…

Northern Ireland endured a quarter century of political violence from 1969 until the declaration of ceasefires in 1994. Although a political settlement was signed in 1998, the actual implementation of agreed institutions has proved to be very difficult and the actual institutions have been fragile (and are currently under suspension). The purpose…

This school district guide examines the why of long-range planning, the relationship between long-range planning and educational change, the long-range planning process, community involvement in planning, the communicating of educational quality assessment and other needs assessment results with the public, needs assessment, prioritizing district…