Using in-depth interviewing, participant observations, and the collection of historical and curricular documents, this article describes two Latino community-based small high schools-the Dr Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) and El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice (El Puente). The authors focus on ways in which these two schools create a…

In this article, the authors discuss the small learning community or small high schools literature and the issues surrounding the dismantling of large high schools. Next, the authors describe inclusive education and its apparent relationship to the creation of small learning communities. The authors bridge the gap between the intent of small…

In 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka," the South Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side was home primarily to Polish and Czech immigrants. In the decades since, South Lawndale has undergone dramatic change. Eastern Europeans moved out, and people of Mexican…

This article deals with school districts' K-8 configurations. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, and Philadelphia are among the districts making the change, driven by a small body of research and a rising pile of anecdotes suggesting that K-8 configurations help academic performance, decrease discipline problems, enhance parent…

Although the number of urban Catholic schools has declined in recent years, Nativity model middle schools, first developed by the Jesuits over 35 years ago, have appeared throughout the nation to address the need for effective alternative education for urban children placed at risk. The present study compares the effectiveness of two types of…

The Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES) has been working to build the capacity of people to transform the educational experiences and outcomes of underserved students in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area for more than 15 years. BayCES supports people in urban districts and schools undergoing reform efforts to improve their…

This newsletter provides examples from four small, rural school districts of how innovative superintendents plan and provide resources and provide staff development, which are two of the six ways that school administrators effect change. The superintendents are located in a small poor district in the Arkansas Mississippi Delta region, a primarily…

This paper examines Ontario, Canada schools that share a principal and other resources. A literature review refers primarily to U.S. schools, termed clustered schools, and outlines forms of collaboration and advantages and disadvantages of clustering. A survey of 37 Ontario school districts received responses from 68 principles of 141 schools…

This proceedings contains abstracts of 21 presentations. Titles and presenters are: "Teaching and Learning in Multiage Classrooms" (Laura Blevins and others); "Leadership, School Reform and the Rural School Superintendent" (Mike Boone); "Teaching English as a Second Language from Theory to Practice" (Mingsheng Dai); "A Guide for Central Office…

This paper examines whether the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, a magnet school in its second year of operation, has improved equity of opportunities for Maine students to participate in advanced mathematics and science courses. Data on per pupil expenditures, state aid to school districts, and course offerings were obtained from the…

Job satisfaction and its components were investigated among 156 teachers in 15 of the smallest school districts in the Texas panhandle. The districts were randomly selected from all panhandle districts having an average daily attendance of 200 students or less. Respondents completed a 28-item modified version of the Community Attitudes Toward…

Small schools may resist educational reform because they view the implementation of change as too costly and time consuming. Formation of a consortium of small schools allows the pooling of staff and resources, thereby increasing capabilities while maintaining the positive attributes of small schools. In rural northeastern Oregon, eight small…

Boulder County's long and well-documented history provides a unique opportunity to study the life of a school system, from its inception to the consolidation of its many districts almost 100 years later. The first three chapters of this book describe the establishment of school districts within Boulder County, the characteristics and working…

Resources to support curriculum renewal in small rural schools are severely limited. This handbook reports how five professional teacher networks expand available resources through the collective efforts of network members. The networks are Big Sky Telegraph (Montana), Alaskan Teacher Research Network, Bitterroot Teachers' Network (the Idaho…

Vermont state legislation provides additional funding to small schools--those enrolling fewer than 100 students. To meet legislative requirements, a study group examined costs, educational quality, and consolidation issues in Vermont's small schools. In 1996-97, Vermont had 50 small schools (16 percent of all public schools), primarily K-6…