The urban university must provide limited public service related to teaching and research with a special emphasis on the urban environment of which it is a part. It need not become a social service agency but must prove its seriousness to itself and the larger community in which it resides. (MLW)

A longitudinal, comparative case study examines the impact of enrollment decline on and the response to it by 15 suburban school districts in 2 metropolitan areas. Data were collected during 1978-81 through interviews, observation of public meetings, documentary and statistical sources, and case histories developed for each district from 1964-81.…

Reviews public responses to 18 questions about significant school issues, such as (1) the most important problems facing schools today, (2) support for antidrug measures in local schools, (3) rating the schools on success characteristics, (4) the goals of education, and (5) attitudes about AIDS. (IW)

Based on 84 questionnaires returned of 160 mailed in 1983 to 41 states and two educational service agencies, this study provides extensive charts on public relations activities in school districts of all sizes and in eight specific areas, including school board policy, news sources, and district/news media relations. (JBM)

After warning that new paradigms of educational administration will not come through merely calling for them but must come through the hard labor of conceptual inquiry and empirical research, this paper attempts to present four topics that illustrate fruitful directions for conceptual inquiry and empirical research. The first topic is the…

A research project used data from a national comparative study to examine whether service learning improved students' problem solving or contributed to a more complex understanding of social issues. In a pilot study, students with no, limited, and intensive service-learning experience were interviewed about a social problem and how they would…

The concluding chapter of the book looks back at the previous presentations in order to discern additional educational issues that demand definition and delimitation. A basic bidimensional taxonomy is presented that consists of the levels of education and the functions of education. The resulting grid is then used to analyze the contents of the…

In this book, the authors document experiences that indicate that the open classroom -- the community itself -- constitutes distinct advantages over standard concepts. Using many actual cases, the authors show how students facing the realities of life -- particularly in urban areas -- provide their own and satisfactory answers to problems.…

The Chicago Youth Development Project was an action-research program jointly undertaken by the Chicago Boys Club and the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research to test whether a program of aggressive street work and community organization in the core of a city could reduce delinquency among youth living there. The report presents a…

Of the 105 small K-12 rural public school districts (enrollments under 900) identified in the Colorado study, 19 were randomly chosen for use in gathering information to assist educators in understanding and improving the education of rural residents. A 100% response rate to the 123-item questionnaire mailed to superintendents provided information…

A study explored the application of reflective judgment theory to the types of problem solving faced by students in community service placements. It also tested the impact of different service-learning experiences on growth in reflective judgment over the course of a semester. Participants were 66 students in 6 colleges and universities. They were…

Continuing concern regarding the quality and future of education in both America and Japan prompts many comparisons of their nation's educational systems. Chapter 1, "Japanese Schools' Higher Achievement, Literacy, Efficiency, Discipline, Classroom Management, and Strengths of Civilization," attempts to explain the superior performance…

This White Paper summarizes findings from an extensive literature review that was conducted to identify the most promising models and approaches for meeting the needs of low-income children, youth, and families during the summer months. Special attention is paid to summer learning programs that serve diverse, urban low-income children and youth.…

Utilizing the responses of 385 women to a district-wide community needs assessment conducted in March 1980, as well as information gathered from personal interviews with 400 women students, Santa Ana College (SAC) conducted a project to increase the awareness among women of SAC's programs and services and to determine: (1) women's degree of…