In the fall of 2011, an undergraduate student who is also a military spouse and mother of school-aged children, shared with the College of Education (COE) at Kansas State University faculty her concerns about the necessity of intentional preparation of teachers and counselors regarding the unique needs of military-connected children. From that…

Initial teacher education programs are continuously looking for ways to grow and evolve to meet the changing needs of pre-service teachers (PSTs) who will face a diverse student population when they begin their careers. This study examines a short-term, cross-cultural, service-learning immersion undertaken by 21 undergraduate PSTs to an internally…

Even in marginalized towns it is possible to find school communities that have developed relationships that encourage the construction of institutional cultures and management structures prone to superior academic performance compared to others within the same context. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project conducted in…

Even before withstanding one of the most devastating economic crises in American history, families living in poverty have battled a dominant discourse that labels them as lacking personal responsibility, initiative, and the ability to make "good" choices. This discourse is reflected in the parent-involvement mandates of the No Child Left…

Using standardized test scores as the main measure of educational achievement is not enough to capture the complexity of a student's or school's needs, challenges, and successes. "Leveraging Time for School Equity: Indicators to Measure More and Better Learning Time" presents a new set of comprehensive, rich, and meaningful…

Colleges have lived a charmed life. According to the public-opinion studies that the authors have conducted over the past 15 years, many fields--athletics, accounting, politics--have lost the public's trust, but higher education continues to receive praise for its accomplishments, while criticisms usually fail to stick. The honeymoon may be slowly…

In this article, the authors offer a more humanistic vision of educational community, one that is substantive in content yet flexible in its application to the diverse contexts in which American schooling occurs. In doing so, the authors turn specifically to the nonviolent philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and consider what a school…

Colleges and universities have embraced the importance of community engagement, not only as a tool for student development but also, as a responsibility of the institution to address societal needs and problems. Research is lacking, however, on how institutions with varying missions, histories and cultures perceive their role in the community,…

To meet workforce demand and the needs of working or place-bound students, Whatcom Community College developed an online version of its existing face-to-face Physical Therapist Assistant program which became a model for other lab-based health science degrees. This article describes research studies that support the program's practices and includes…

The author recently attended a symposium on engaged scholarship and activism. Folks in attendance were inspired. The author was the lone holdout for despair. Perhaps the author's expectations were skewed but, as impressive as the presentations were, she could not help but feel that she was seeing and hearing that "engaged scholarship" happened…

In 2001, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched the SPARK initiative to improve early learning and transitions into elementary school for vulnerable children. Eight programs were funded, each of which anchored their work in their local communities by forming partnerships with parents, schools and a variety of local organizations. Seven of the eight…

The Edison School of Applied Technology, a comprehensive public high school, has long had a reputation for producing top-notch crafts workers, tradespeople, project managers, estimators, and industry leaders. The school's graduates helped build the city and many currently have successful, productive careers in the public and private sectors. But…

This article takes a look at the influence of technology on curriculum and teaching. It specifically examines the new wave of available technology and the opportunity for schools to make inroads into community outreach by engaging new, technological learning methods. The relationship among community education, public school relations, and distance…

The practice of public school consolidation has a long history in the United States. School consolidation involves several stakeholders and is tied to a community's identity. Educational leaders are faced with tough dilemmas among responding to student needs, meeting fiduciary responsibilities to constituencies, and addressing adult concerns about…

Behavioral research supports informal education as fundamental to lifelong learning and responsible for much of what we know. Such learning occurs outside of formal schooling through venues such as the Internet, libraries, museums and planetariums. Unrestricted by the regulations of formal institutions, informal education can respond more quickly,…