Energy Express is an 8-week summer nutrition and literacy program in low-income West Virginia communities. Multi-age groups of eight children in grades 1-6 work with college student mentors for 3 1/2 hours each day, eating breakfast and lunch served family-style and creating print-rich environments that support their emerging literacy. The program…

A Nebraska high school art teacher who wanted to change from dictator to facilitator suggested that his class study local barns. Students found an old round barn, involved other classes, and helped found a nonprofit organization that coordinated a successful community-wide restoration effort. (TD)

Energy Express is a summer reading and nutrition program for disadvantaged young children in 80 rural West Virginia communities. College student/AmeriCorps mentors support childrens' literacy by creating a print-rich environment, using a place-based curriculum, and providing activities, including a community service project. Two case studies…

A summer professional development institute introduces middle school teachers to interdisciplinary work and development of local place-based units. Teachers learn to develop a common experience, use tools of inquiry for their own discipline, communicate their findings, and respect both disciplinary and shared interdisciplinary understanding.…

An Idaho community worked together to build a performing arts building on school property. Students from the school, which had been using the Foxfire approach for several years, selected the site, did the surveying, and helped with the timber frame construction. The project fostered a renewed sense of community for a town suffering from declining…

This literature review surveys the varieties and purposes of connections between schools and communities, from home-school relationships to schools as social service centers and communities as school curricula. It explores the benefits of school-community connections to students, communities, and schools. It describes the processes by which…

In the Four Corners region of rural southwest Colorado is Battle Rock Charter School--a one-room school attended by students in grades 1-6 that live in McElmo Canyon. For most of the 1900s, the canyon's isolation meant that people lived and worked as they had in the previous century, and the community was allowed to retain its tiny school because…

This paper describes four considerations for policymakers who wish to have public schools serve as viable partners in the rural development efforts of their communities. First, schools are a community resource. When rural students are given opportunities to engage in community-based learning, they develop responsible citizenship and leadership…

This volume compiles descriptions of the work being done by rural students in 13 schools/sites with grants from the Annenberg Rural Challenge. The work reflects a belief in education that privileges the local nature of learning and connects schools and communities for their mutual benefit. Entries include focused lessons, long-term projects, and…

A significant theme in the literature on rural education is the extreme interdependence between rural schools and rural communities. Belief in this interdependence has led to a number of initiatives focused on strengthening both student learning and the local community's economic and social resources. Most of these initiatives involve some degree…

This anthology collects stories from various classrooms and collaborations supported by the Orion Society. Orion's Stories in the Land fellowships are 1-year teacher stipends that promote effective place-based education: interdisciplinary studies of the local natural and cultural history using extensive field experiences and diverse "human…

The current educational emphasis on the "global community" misses the most immediate and concrete area where students can make a difference: the locality. Without negating the importance of having a sense of responsibility toward the global community, a pedagogy of place argues that children cannot comprehend, much less feel a commitment…

An on-line symposium on January 13, 1999, brought together policymakers, educators, parents, students, and local community reformers to discuss rural perspectives on academic standards. As part of an on-line dialogue extending from November 1998 to March 1999, the symposium linked on-line participants to panelists and participants in Burlington,…

The Annenberg Rural Challenge believes that high academic standards can help achieve excellence, but can also be exploited to serve other political purposes. Standards should originate in the community. The policy statement discusses three kinds of standards, the dangers of standards, and the relationship between high standards and educational…

Described is the Man in a Changing Society (MIS) project in which K-12 Swedish children use parish records to study and research local history. Church records in Sweden contain detailed information about individuals living during the 18th and 19th centuries. To make this information accessible to researchers, the Swedish church records are being…