Offers guidelines for selecting community members for systemic restructuring efforts in public schools. Definitions of community and of systemic restructuring, or educational systems design, are presented; the importance of selection efforts is discussed; a community selection model is described and explained; and further research is suggested.…

Considers population education in anglophone African countries in terms of goals and strategies (e.g., location of the program's institutional framework; pilot phases; integration versus separate subject approaches; lifelong learning approaches; and community participation). Highlights problems encountered in program design and implementation and…

If a school and community are qualified enough to hire teachers, counselors, and secretaries through school-based-management processes, they are equally qualified to hire the school principal. This article describes a site-based team-selection process designed to identify optimal administrator characteristics, advertise the job opening, handle…

Reflecting new visions of learning, educators and architects are creating "three-dimensional textbooks" that use the learning environment as a teaching tool. In a planning process called architectural programing, the community and those who will occupy the building are consulted concerning developmental needs, aesthetic preferences, and…

The analogy of theatrical drama is used to explore the directions schools should take in the formation of educational communities. The roles of elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher learning are considered in light of the upcoming National Congress on Catholic Schools for the Twenty-First Century. (SLD)

Described are ways in which children with the help of their parents and community can get involved with recycling, energy conservation, composting, and picking up litter. Environmental student projects on water conservation, planting trees, and Earth Day pledges are included. (KR)

Describes a New Jersey high school's development and implementation of a question-driven model for interdisciplinary research designed to improve students' writing skills, research skills, and their understanding of, and interest in, the local community. (PRA)

Channeling the energy of volunteer boards of parents and community members can produce unexpected dividends. At Alma College (Michigan), a parent board raises $250,000 annually and helps recruit new students. A formal and communicative relationship between advisory board and governing board is essential for effective operation. (Author/MSE)

School board and community have only two ways to achieve accountability: by prescribing teaching methodology and establishing expensive supervisory superstructure to enforce it; or by establishing desired learning outcome standards and products and requiring professional staff to develop plans to achieve them and criteria to evaluate results.…

Explores neighborhood-based, interagency collaboration, using qualitative research methodology. Interagency participants believed that neighborhood-based collaboration provided treatment at the core of student struggles, shared responsibility among service providers for student problems, increased accessibility of services, and personalized…

Prepares the way for an institutional analysis of strategic interventions for collaboration, drawing on recent research by Crowson, Boyd, and other organizational theorists. Using a framework of institutional propositions, analyzes strategic efforts to promote collaborative efforts to enhance students' life chances in a Canadian high school, as…

Encourages environmental and outdoor educators to promote bicycling. In the community and the curriculum, cycling connects environmental issues, health and fitness, law and citizenship, appropriate technology, and the joy of being outdoors. Describes the Ontario Cycling Association's cycling strategy and its four components: school cycling…

To discover whether the salubrious effects of parental involvement hold for inner-city students, a Chicago elementary school researched, planned, implemented, and evaluated a broad-based parental participation program serving third-graders. Participating students' reading achievement improved by four months, and parents' interest in education…

Examines the current status of school, family, and community partnerships, reviews partnership research, and makes recommendations for further research. Researchers should begin with multiple, detailed case studies, define terms precisely, clarify outcomes, understand partnership theory and activities, involve participants, use objective measures,…

Asserts that arts programs must be strong in themselves in order to survive; arts programs thrive through the collaboration of teachers, administrators, parents, students, and the community. Gives a multitude of steps, from program quality to informing the community, as a way for arts educators and advocates to take a stand. (CMK)