Describes the Institute for Responsive Education's Schools Reaching Out project, which attempts to increase student achievement by fostering improved relationships among families, schools, and other community agencies and institutions. These partnerships are seen as crucial in restructuring schools through parent involvement, teacher empowerment,…

Introduces an issue devoted to the Schools Reaching Out projects at David A. Ellis School in Roxbury (MA) and Adolph S. Ochs School in New York City. Projects attempt to link the schools with parents and their communities to promote the students' academic and social success. (DM)

Examines 3 stabilizing principles of small town organization that are intertwined with the survival of local schools: (1) centripetalism (inwardly focused community involvement); (2) inclusiveness of local associations and activities; and (3) distinctive identity. Discusses the effects of state pro-consolidation policies on rural economic…

Describes a history program at the Suzanne Middle School, Walnut, California, in which students create, design, and promote local history activities. Emphasizes the accomplishments of the program, including a rise in the school's state test scores from the twenty-second percentile to the ninety-fourth percentile. (RW)

Argues against the notion that all school districts should be the same size. Research on fiscal efficiency and school effectiveness does not express a consensus regarding the long-term effects or organizational implications of district size, and the country still has a range of district types. There should be more research on community identity.…

Describes Project Comptown, an Israeli research-oriented educational intervention designed to create a computer culture in the schools and to use the computer's potential for innovative teaching and learning in both the schools and the community. Highlights include implementation analysis and teacher involvement and training. (31 references)…

Portrays the controversy surrounding schools and education in a rural community experiencing both an influx of urban and suburban newcomers and the effects of urban sprawl. Reports on surveys of student educational attitudes, household information, and outside activities, and on interviews with teachers, school administrators, and residents.…

Looks at the way community interaction with students developed from the "The McWhorter Book" project at McWhorter Elementary School (Lubbock, Texas). States that the project was designed to respond to drop-out problems. Preparing advertisements for local businesses helped students develop a deeper understanding of the community and of…

Discusses the growth in four interrelated groups that bear on the school's relationship to the community: elderly citizens, school-age children, nontraditional families, and the underclass of impoverished children. Suggests that schools target business, the elderly, and parents as publics that will offer future support. (MS)

Examining the ways in which Western European countries have presented and justified educational reform, Neave explores the shift in values and social ethics that occupy the center of the educational stage. States that education is less a part of social policy, but is increasingly viewed as a sub-sector of economic policy. (GEA)

There exists a crisis of inequality in our education system. The concepts of the democratic school and of school and community-based teacher education, which can contribute to alleviating this inequality, represent an important yet neglected component of the reform agenda for teacher education. (IAH)

This essay suggests that Berry is a radical thinker; it discusses his critiques of the current state of education and presents his constructive educational proposals for transforming residents of modern societies into responsible postmodern human community dwellers, examining his reflections and identifying intellectual traditions and literary…

Describes the historical and present-day agricultural practices of Native Americans and the common misconception that Indians were primarily nomadic. Highlights recent efforts in reservation schools to teach traditional Indian agricultural methods. Indicates that with the tribal colleges' land grant status came a new impetus to explore the…

Fifteen rural school superintendents surveyed in Nevada believed that raising licensing requirements would only exacerbate problems in recruiting qualified substitute teachers. They also noted that rural school districts do little to recruit substitute teachers beyond newspaper advertisements. Offers suggestions for improving recruitment while…

Reviews the literature on the economic development role of rural, suburban, and urban community colleges; the role of the community college in technology transfer; employment, training, and literacy programs; and economic impact studies. (Contains 40 references.) (KP)