Advocates including environmental issues balanced with basic science concepts/processes to provide a sound science foundation. Suggests case studies of regional environmental issues to sensitize/motivate students while reflecting complex nature of science/society issues. Issues considered include: fresh water quality, earthquake predication,…

This paper argues that political conflict over educational policy at the local level is cultural in its origins and represents a deep division in U.S. society about the values that should be taught in the public schools. The research reported in the paper focused on a single case study of a recall election in the Orange Unified School District…

Presents challenges to knowledge management revealed in a 1998 study of county judges and clerks in rural Texas courts. Proposes a model for integration of knowledge management work practices in local courts into large-scale state information systems. This model emphasizes the need for a holistic, well-integrated view of local practitioners' work…

The role of the public has generally been dismissed as a significant factor influencing the process of curriculum formation in large urban school districts. This paper presents an indepth case study focusing on the role of the public in curriculum formation in one school district over a 21-year period during portions of the tenure of 3…

The establishment of new manufacturing plants in 5 towns in Kentucky had a negative net fiscal impact on most local governmental units during 1958-63. In most of the counties studied, the direct effect of locating new manufacturing plants in the small towns was to increase the costs of government for the school district, and often the town,…

Introduction: Knowledge translation implies the exchange and synthesis of knowledge between researchers and research users, employing a high level of communication and participation, not only to share the knowledge found through research, but also to implement subsequent strategies. Prince Edward Island, a rural province in Canada, provided the…

This analysis is the third of a series of seven reports on the ways that the urban fiscal crisis has affected children. There has been little reorganization of government services on the state, regional, or local level to compensate for the benefits to children lost as a result of local property tax limitations enacted under Proposition 2-1/2 in…

This case study concerns the forming of a Marietta, Ohio unity committee, entitled Citizens for Social and Racial Justice, in response to the local Ku Klux Klan's (KKK) request for a parade permit in order to demonstrate against blacks in this city. Marietta, the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, has a population composed of both white and…

The recurrence of stories throughout California communities using narrative art to strengthen themselves led to an inquiry that is described in this report. The research question was: how can different ways of discovering and presenting local stories in public contribute to the strengthening of community? The inquiry had six components: (1) a…

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 68 million people in the United States are under the age of 18. That's 26% of the population, who participate in school and community activities, spend more than $150 billion a year, and care about the world in which they live. However, that's also 26% of the population who cannot vote and who are supposed to…

The Site Case Study Report, Volume 6 of the seven volume National Day Care Home Study (NDCHS), describes the status of family day care in Los Angeles, San Antonio and Philadelphia. Open-ended interviews conducted with over 30 respondents ranging from state licensing staff to day care advocates provided the qualitative information needed to…

This article describes how four Texas school districts responded to changed fiscal conditions following implementation of reforms designed to bring greater equity to Texas school finance. Case studies in two poor districts show that little new money was spent on improvements to the core curriculum. (SLD)

Following two-failed school bond issues in 1995 and 1998, one mid-sized rural school district organized an effort that led to two successful school bond elections in 2001 and 2003. The school district's strategic plan mirrored many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums published in School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building…

What issues do distance education (DE) leaders believe will influence the future of DE? What are their colleges' DE strategies? This qualitative study compares DE strategic thinking and strategic choices at three community colleges. Two propositions are investigated: (1) each college's DE leaders use common strategic mental models (ways of…

Reversing two decades of school-community turmoil, Valley View--a small, rural community in northeastern Vermont--approved a bond issue for school construction. This case study uses organizational and systems theory to examine structural, political, symbolic, and human resource influences on changing community attitudes. Contains 19 references.…