Despite the growing contributions of community college institutes and associations to educational research, most university-based colleges of education still minimize the value of this research and often contain only one professor whose primary interest and/or expertise is community colleges. To address this issue, researchers should make efforts…

This newsletter includes five articles on immigrant education that focus on successful school programs and educational policy issues. In "Immigrant Education from the Administrators' Perspective" (Pam McCollum, Juanita Garcia), three principals of south Texas secondary schools with successful immigrant programs discuss their views on the…

Between 1986 and 1993 Australia developed a national curriculum framework of statements and profiles in eight learning areas. These areas were (1) English, (2) mathematics, (3) science, (4) studies of society and the environment, (5) arts, (6) health and physical education, (7) technology, and (8) languages other than English. This development…

Trust, respect, and caring are crucial components in achieving or maintaining school effectiveness. This paper presents findings of a case study that examined the ways in which one urban school manifested particular characteristics of community--those of respect, caring, and trust. The one-year case study at an elementary school in Los Angeles…

In recent times, sociological constructs have been used to examine school culture, viewing schools as learning communities rather than formal organizations. This paper describes use of the School Cultural Elements Questionnaire (SCEQ) to investigate the culture of schools in Western Australia. The SCEQ was first administered to 422 teachers in 8…

This paper describes a year-long project in a fifth grade classroom to investigate the recurring flooding of the Pecatonica River (Illinois) and its effects on plant and animal life. The project was funded by a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to involve elementary school classrooms with a consortium of museums in the…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined forms of parent involvement in a restructuring middle school. Data for the 18-month case study were obtained through observation, interviews, and document analysis. The paper focuses on the relationship of the Parent Council, a parent group attempting to influence school decision making, and…

This study examined barriers facing rural schools in serving students at-risk and the perceptions of teachers, parents, and administrators related to the difficulty in changing these barriers. Seventeen rural school districts representing 5 counties in southern Ohio participated in the study. The survey collected 846 completed responses from…

This paper offers a commentary, by a representative of the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education, on the Holmes Group publication (1995) titled "Tomorrow's Schools of Education." The Holmes Group is applauded for producing a much-needed, candid assessment of schools of education. The issue of marginal…

The standards-driven approach to school reform, exemplified by Goals 2000, shows promise for unifying contemporary efforts by affecting change at the classroom, school, and community levels. The special aspects of the rural context, particularly distance and low population density, set it apart from the urban and suburban schools on which most…

The United States Congress has recently enacted federal education legislation such as Goals 2000 that promotes unprecedented levels of comprehensive planning and service integration of state and local levels. In preparation for such federal initiatives, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) contracted with the Morrison Institute for Public…

This paper describes the development of an inclusive special education program in 12 elementary schools in an urban Colorado school district. Specifically, the study examined the role of leadership in program implementation. Leadership is defined as a reciprocal, multidirectional, noncoercive influence that involves multiple leaders and followers…

Although the principal is a vital key in the success of any project involving the school, a variety of constraints interfere with the principal's effectiveness to use interagency collaboration as an impetus for school reform. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated the perspectives of principals toward a neighborhood-based…

The current trend toward collaboration is having an impact on the fields of adult basic education and adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and literacy education. This digest looks at collaboration for adult ESL programs and for family bilingual and ESL literacy programs. It discusses the distinctions among cooperation, coordination, and…

This paper describes Project TransND, a transition services project implemented jointly through the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, Office of Special Education, and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. This program helps prepare special education students to transition from high school to the work world. Project goals include…