If Minnesota public school choice programs were as bad as Judith Pearson's "Kappan" (June 1989) article alleges, most teachers would not support them. There would be declining cooperation among rural school districts, little interest in handicapped or "unattractive" students' needs, and a teacher shortage. As this article…

Any plan to create a communications/governance structure to empower stakeholders must address several questions: rationale, potential advantages and disadvantages, problems to be considered, format, committee structure and responsibilities, and evaluation techniques. Includes 10 references. (MLH)

Credit with Education provides poor women with small loans; a safe place for savings; and education in health, nutrition, and family planning. The strategy integrates financial and educational services to empower women toward self-sufficiency. (SK)

Developmental evaluation is proposed as a term to describe certain long-term partnering relationships with clients who are, themselves, engaged in ongoing program development. Rather than a model, developmental evaluation is a relationship founded on a shared purpose and is a way of being useful in innovative settings. (SLD)

Serious issues in empowerment evaluation are articulated to help ensure that this enthusiastically presented concept will not mislead evaluators and result in lowering the field's professional standards. Analysis and recommendations are provided for the adoption, development, and implementation of an objectivist evaluation that conforms to…

Summarizes a study examining attitudes, decision-making processes, and interpersonal expectations of school personnel in over 50 school renewal projects in Georgia. Identified nine elements essential for helping restructuring schools become more empowering organizations. Discusses how professional educators can use their knowledge of these…

Discusses three important trends that will affect U.S. business and its culture: massive demographic changes in the work force, fewer international companies locating in the United States, and more U.S. companies going global. Suggests strategies for policymakers and leaders to adapt to these changes. (Author/JOW)

Key challenges are (1) using forecasting and prediction; (2) inventing possible futures; (3) matching futuring techniques to different populations; (4) using a holistic approach; and (5) serving as a futures role model. (JOW)

Describes an assessment process in a public child welfare agency that included workers as a primary source of knowledge about their own needs. Argues that the use of focus groups (a marketing research technique) encourages high levels of direct input and helps engage workers in subsequent phases of the training process. (MM)

Higher education has much potential for developing a sense of community and for modeling community behavior and leadership. However, it will not be accomplished by top-down leadership with a fixed vision and focus on ends rather than means. It will require leadership that embodies 10 basic principles of community. (MSE)

Empowerment as social action addresses lack of control by enhancing participation in community action. An alcohol and substance abuse prevention program for New Mexico adolescents used Freire's problem posing and critical thinking philosophy and methods to empower young people to change their health behavior. (SK)

In community education theory and practice, there is a large gap between rhetoric and reality and a problem in relating the micro to the macro. Community education praxis for the nineties involves acting appropriately in maintaining a value base and exploring the politics of practice. (SK)

This response to a work, "Researching Language," from a field linguist working with little-to-unknown indigenous languages suggests that the work is welcome and should prove very useful in articulating the debate over power and method in social science research. (VWL)

Extends James Heap's sociologically based viewpoint regarding reading as a cultural activity. Focuses on two neglected topics: the relationship of written and oral texts; and intertextuality uses regarding the range of texts encountered in everyday life. Heap's texts have too much autonomy; the reader is just as vital as the text. (13 references)…

Describes how members of a training team worked together to obtain funding to make a presentation at the 1997 National Association for the Education of Young Children Professional Development Conference. Details five qualities identified as instrumental in the group's progress: (1) passion; (2) dedication to the mission; (3) self-reflection and…