The pressures on community colleges have mounted for years; they must balance: competition from the growing for-profit-education industry, demands from lawmakers for more accountability, and the shifting needs of an increasingly complex student body. Most recently, intense financial pressure has been added to the mix as states once again face…

The NAESP (National Association of Elementary School Principals) Platform consists of a summary of all resolutions adopted by business meetings and, since 1974, by Delegate Assemblies. Each resolution presented for action by the Delegate Assembly carries with it a rationale for its adoption as well as the specific area and section of the Platform…

No matter the medium--magazines, newspapers, or TV--institutional leaders need to hit the right tone and convey specific talking points to their audience. A media-savvy leader doesn't just provide accurate information; he or she can help change the tenor of a discussion and build support for crucial institutional initiatives. No university is an…

The author's work as a university faculty member and partner with local school districts remains rooted in the ideals of the Holmes Partnership and its foundational professional development school efforts begun in the 1980s. She is fortunate to have lived several classroom teacher and university professor lives--involved with nascent and…

Inner-city schools located in high poverty communities often operate with insufficient resources to meet the educational needs of students. Community residents serving as paraeducators offer the dual benefits of expanding instructional capacity and fostering family-school relationships, provided they are appropriately prepared and incorporated…

The purpose of this paper is to inform the community about teacher appraisal methods in the School District of Philadelphia, outline the difficulties of the current system, and suggest approaches that would strengthen the teacher appraisal process. The authors gathered their information over three months in mid-2009 from multiple sources:…

The Alliance for Excellent Education understands that the first step in improving any rural high school is to encourage and support the active engagement of students, parents, teachers, the community, and business leaders. This guide is designed to give parents and community members some suggested ways to begin thinking about whether their local…

As educators deliberate on how to provide a well-rounded education for all, the idea of working more collaboratively with a range of arts education providers has become increasingly attractive. Allowing outside organizations and individuals to gain access to institutions in a more evenhanded way and create long-term relationships that reinforce…

Local communities and their schools remain key sites for actions tackling issues of sustainability and climate change. A government-funded environmental education initiative, the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI), working together with state based Sustainable Schools Programs (SSP), has the ability to support the development of…

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of four middle school principals in one urban school district. It focuses on principals' almost exclusively negative descriptions of the families and communities served by their schools. Whereas much previous writing on this topic has attributed such deficit attitudes to a few bad-thinking…

Background: Few studies have been conducted in Canada to investigate the roles, actions and beliefs of health teachers in school health programs. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore health education teaching and assess related needs among pre-service and in-service teachers in a British Columbia K-12 school system, and to elicit…

Safe schools are the concern of communities throughout the world. If a school is safe, and if children feel safe, students "are better able to learn. But what are the steps to make" this happen? First, it is important to understand the problem: What are the threats to school safety? These include crime-related behaviors that find their way to…

In this article, the author talks about incorporating what those in academia do best--scholarship and teaching--and what government bureaucrats do best in administering housing and community revitalization programs into a strong and sustainable system of community engagement and outreach. He frames the discussion by focusing on some examples of…

Few studies have directly examined how recipients of service view the service. This qualitative study presents the results of interviews and observations of nine community members who participated in a service-learning, language exchange program, Intercambio, in which Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants were paired with English-speaking university…

For most of a full career in sociology and education, Aaron Tadgerson has dwelt on the relationship between communities and the school systems that purport to serve them. The special problems of Indian education derive from that relationship. Tadgerson serves as the recruiter, retention, and land grant development coordinator for Bay Mills…