Traces the role of Geoffrey Cochrane Remington, Sydney solicitor and businessman, in free public library development in Australia. Describes how the Munn Pitt Report on Australian libraries and Remington's acquaintance with John Wallace Metcalfe of the Public Library of New South Wales led to the birth of the Free Library Movement in 1935, and…

This Backgrounder Brief is an executive summary of "Telling the Technology Story: PR Strategies for School Leaders," a component of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Essential Leadership Skills Series. Public relations is a critical component of a district's successful technology implementation--and it involves communicating on an…

College expectations play an important role in students' success at an institution. Braxton et al. (1994) found that if expectations are met, students are more likely to persist than if they are unmet. One potential contributor to college expectations is media (Tobolowsky, 2001). Prior research concludes that colleges that play in bowl games…

This study sought to identify institutional selection factors most influential upon small-college student-athletes. Mean scores for 229 freshman student-athletes from six institutions were analyzed using a modified Student-Athlete College Choice Profile Scale. The sample was also stratified by gender and sports-program categories. Overall, four of…

It is no secret that strong parental involvement is essential for school success. Yet, it is still a challenge to get parents more involved in their children's education. According to the most recent MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, teachers and principals agree on the importance of parental involvement--71% of principals and 59% of…

The modern-day lobbyist is uniquely qualified to provide lawmakers with information that would take an overworked staff countless hours to obtain; hence, the relationship of lobbyist and lawmaker has evolved into a network of accommodation and mutual assistance. Consistent with persuasion theory that recognizes the limitations of discourse,…

This book examines the changing politics and administration of school-community relations. Among the array of recent educational improvement and school-reform initiatives nationwide, there is new interest in strengthening connections between public schools and the parent/community clientele. Part 1 examines changing school-community interactions…

This paper presents findings of an ethnographic study that analyzed the constraining and enabling dynamics of parental involvement in schools. The study was conducted at a suburban, an urban, and a rural high school, but the paper reports only the results from the suburban and urban schools. Data were derived from interviews with a total of 98…

This document consists of four issues of the "Journal of Educational Relations' published quarterly during 1996. The journal's motto is "Promoting student achievement through positive school-home-community relationships." Articles in the first issue of this volume include: "The Electronic Superintendent" (James Donlevy and…

The development of Tennessee's Master Teacher Program is described in this case study, the first in a series of project reports. Data were derived from interviews, document analysis, transcriptions and analyses of meetings, informal conversations, questionnaires, and monitoring of legislative sessions and committee hearings. Following an…

South Carolina's successful comprehensive school plan to develop and maintain public support for its school reform package, the Education Improvement Act, is offered in this paper, which focuses on the necessity of public support for successful reform. Key components of the plan are described, which include timing and public interest, state…

The pregraduation internship is a vital link between public relations classes and the public relations professions. Practitioners consistently regard the internship as the most crucial aspect of a public relations degree program. Interns should be of junior or senior standing, have completed some, if not most, of their public relations course…

Because of its pervasive "image problem," vocational education (VE) is not being given high priority by leaders of the new vocational education school reform movement and it is being forced to compete against others in the arena of education for a shrinking student population and scarce resources. Like other service industries, VE has…

This paper addresses the question, "What is the relationship of communications--in the sense of technology of information--and community?" The answer is the Internet. Public relations educators must teach students and practitioners how to best use the Internet to enhance public relations community-building. The implications of today's Internet are…

A study examined the similarities and differences which exist in the professionalization of public relations in Austria, Norway, and the United States. Subjects, 136 of 188 members of the Public Relations Verband Austria, 150 of 300 members of the Informasjonsforeningen (Norway), and 272 of 500 members of the Public Relations Society of America,…