More than one-half of all institutions of higher education are located within or just outside urban areas. These colleges and university can offer rich resources to provide stability to a city and to improve the quality of life and learning in their communities and schools. The authors describe the university-assisted community schools model that…

This teacher education program aims to develop high quality teachers through development of empathy and culturally responsive pedagogy, impacting teachers' dispositions toward students who are different from themselves. Participants included 17 undergraduate education students enrolled in a community engaged teacher education program. One-on-one…

It is important to prepare middle level teacher candidates with the dispositions, content knowledge, and pedagogy needed to implement justice-oriented practices in middle level curriculum. This article explores using "Hateful Things," a traveling exhibit curated by the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, to integrate issues of…

Research on school leadership has shown that a principal's influence on student achievement is indirect and significant. A sample of principals who earned the highest (distinguished) rating on the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) measure responded to open-ended questions during an in-person interview. Principals in this…

A persistent issue in Australia, and globally, is how to improve participation rates in higher education for students from regional and rural areas. In this paper, we tackle this challenge by exploring the idea of a Community Embedded University (CEU). We draw on empirical data from three participatory co-design workshops with university students…

Gun violence and school shootings have become more prevalent in recent years, and beginning in 2017, firearm-related injuries became the most common cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 24. Students also face the threat of bullying, gangs, racism, drugs, and abuse. In recognition of the need for collective action, the Council of…

Community-Based Research (CBR) presents a wide range of benefits in higher education to students, community partners, and universities. Yet on our campus (and many others), CBR remains less common than other high-impact practices (HIPs) such as service learning and undergraduate research due to lack of effective institutionalization. Moreover,…

Rural communities and partnerships are critical in career education, promoting pathways into work and further education and training. Families, teachers, and employers all may influence young people and adults who are considering pathway choices. This research aimed to equip these 'key influencers' with the knowledge and confidence to have…

This study illuminates community partner perspectives regarding their relationship with a public academic health center (AHC) in a health care shortage area (HCSA). Community-based and statewide leadership invested deeply in the AHC's programs and initiatives to prepare health care providers for practice in the region, to decrease the provider…

This paper illustrates the approach of co-creating education where co-creation was an important aspect of the curriculum design. It makes a case for prison-university partnerships through two pedagogical case studies -- one within a prison setting with a focus on soft skills acquisition and another in a Higher Education setting focusing on…

Purpose: School gardening and garden-based learning (GBL) have gained great popularity in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic forced many educators to think creatively about safe, outdoor education. Scholarship from diverse disciplines has demonstrated the positive impact of GBL on student learning, attitudes toward school and various health…

A university in the California Central Valley and three rural district partners designed and implemented a rural teacher residency (RTR) to address the urgent need to prepare and increase retention of qualified educators serving students in rural communities. The RTR program prioritized building partnerships through data use and continuous…

Polarization in political culture and the decline of public education for civic engagement have become serious challenges to a healthy constitutional federal republic in the United States. Communication as a field of study in American universities is well-poised to address these challenges and contribute meaningfully to improving the civic…

Inspiration and motivation for transforming the education system can be found in our human stories of the past, present, and future. Old tales hold within them teachings about deep mysteries we could never logically, or rationally, understand. The tale of the Skeleton Woman teaches us about the consequences of avoidance and points us in the…

This paper discusses the integration of faith, culture and life in Catholic schools, offering keys to understanding and pedagogical orientations. First, based on magisterial documents, the text identifies three features that characterise this integration: a comprehensive understanding of knowledge, a testimony offered through the lives of…