Schools serve both to connect and separate people within society. Therefore, the landscape of school reform presents an opportunity to explicate the opposing forces of connectedness and competition that are entrenched in twenty-first century society. It can serve as a laboratory in which to study foundational social issues. This study is an…

This field study of a small midwestern town undergoing development suggests that external resources (such as state and federal aid) do not necessarily diminish local decision making if the community has shared values, conflict resolution mechanisms, local issues, and healthy social networks. (SK)

This report is essentially a documentary outline of the events associated with the Newark teacher strikes followed by an analysis of the implications of those events for the future of education in Newark and elsewhere. The chronology provides a detailed delineation of the sequence of events before, during, and after each strike. The information…

Parent-run free schools (parent coops) differ markedly from public schools in size and organizational structure, but this paper shows that these new institutions share the problem of teacher supervision. Conclusions are based on intensive study of three parent coops using both participant observation and interviewing. Parent coops must deal with a…

The ATS-6 Educational Satellite Communications Demonstration-Alaska (ESCD), was viewed as a way to give isolated population groups greater voice in their educational future, by bypassing bureaucratic levels and allowing the local people to have a direct say in the school curriculum and programs that were shown via satellite. This study focused on…

This document includes three addresses presented at a 1-day conference on collective negotiations in education. In his "Keynote Remarks," Dr. Herbert F. Johnson outlines three broad concerns affecting the collective negotiation process in New York: (1) Limited State, local, and Federal financial resources for education; (2) revolutionary…

It is time to reevaluate the myths of the nineteenth century and the structures they created pertaining to education. There is a need to utilize new power relationships to creatively build a pluralistic educational system. It must be recognized that conflict can lead to collaboration if respect is present, whereas collaboration which ignores…