In 1995, Public Agenda and the Institute for Educational Leadership joined forces to develop a means for citizens, community leaders, and educators to hold public conversations on issues facing America's schools. Conversations help community members build common ground for improving schools. Success hinges on credible local sponsors, group…

Despite a long tradition of public support for public education, America today is experiencing the erosion of public commitment to public schools. Chapter 1 of this book describes the reasons for the disconnection between schools and communities and argues that fundamental change must start with the public and within the community in order to…

Although rural schools often are the center of community life, ownership of rural education is not necessarily vested in all elements of the community. Without diligent planning, many members of the rural community do not become stockholders in the community's largest enterprise, public education. The program approach to public education has…

Describes the need for and advantages of community involvement in education because of changing school roles. Describes three levels of community education as well as strategies to inform and bring the community into the public schools. Discusses skills needed by community leaders to advance community education. (SB)

In this document various aspects of community response to school desegregation are considered. General themes presented are the role of the community in the integration process as well as some ways in which the process can be facilitated by purposeful organization. A Checklist for Assessing School Desegregation Plans serves as an instrument…

A renewed call from national and state governments to strengthen connections between public schools and their communities invites people outside of the school system to play an active role in the decision-making process. Despite recent efforts to connect public schools and their communities, the two parties remain disconnected. This paper reflects…

This booklet provides an overview of community education for those readers interested in developing a community education program. The content is contained in fifteen brief sections. The first section introduces the concept of community education. Section 2 presents a chart comparing the traditional school's use pattern to that of the community…

A historical overview and analysis of the decentralization process in Victoria, Australia, is the purpose of this paper. The case study illustrates the impact of conflict between political and administrative agendas on attempts to implement the government-initiated policy decision. The current two-tiered system is composed of central and local…