How schools are organized and interact with the local community can dramatically alter the odds for improving student achievement. There are five essential supports for school improvement: a coherent instructional guidance system, the professional capacity of its faculty, strong parent-community-school ties, a student-centered learning climate,…

This paper reports on a longitudinal ethnographic study of beginning primary school teachers in rural and regional Victoria, Australia. The study uses a conceptual framework of "place" and "workplace learning" to ask: How do new teachers learn to do their work and how do they learn about the places and communities in which they…

Inspired by the late John Gardner, in May 2000 the "Alliance for Regional Stewardship" (ARS) was formed as a "peer-to-peer network of regional leaders working across boundaries to solve tough community problems." According to the ARS, regional stewardship is the leadership needed to address the complex problems of one's time.…

Research service-learning (RSL) is an emerging pedagogy in which students engage in research within a service-learning context. This approach has great potential to promote science literacy because it teaches students how to use scientific knowledge and scientific ways of thinking in the service of society and helps them to better appreciate the…

In the summer of 2009, a group of teachers, community activists, and university professors came together in a Summer Institute on EcoJustice Education and Community-Based Learning held by the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalitions at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). A series of workshops were organized to help participants examine the…

I am the Coordinator of the Urban Teacher Education Center, a teacher preparation program located at a very low income, culturally diverse elementary school that serves children from two neighborhood public housing projects. As a White, middle-class, Ph.D. educated, female, I must consistently consider how people in the neighborhoods may take a…

The concept of culture as applied to schools is difficult to define and even harder to operationalize in research terms. This article focuses on sixth formers' perceptions on school culture and seeks to develop a model that will enable researchers to move away from the semantics of organizational culture and to explore more easily the concept of…

The Montana State University student chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA is a student-managed partnership with the people of Khwisero, Kenya. The primary mission, to bring potable water and clean sanitation facilities to 61 primary schools and the surrounding communities of Khwisero, necessitates a long-term commitment to collaboration and…

This technical brief describes updates to a database of dropout prevention programs and policies in 2006/07 created by the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands and described in the Issues & Answers report, "Piloting a searchable database of dropout prevention programs in nine low-income urban school districts in the…

As technology evolves and the world becomes more interconnected, a new set of skills have become necessary to be successful in the workplace. Schools need to develop and modernize in order to prepare students to be competitive in the changing global economy. The purpose of this case study was to identify the programs and practices that promote the…

Rural educational issues cannot be addressed by a one size-fits-all approach to school improvement, but current research offers some solutions and insights into turning around low-performing rural districts and schools. Of the four possibilities set forth by the U.S. Department of Education, the transformation model holds the most promise for…

The federal "Promise Neighborhoods" program underscores the importance of all children and youth having "access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career." From this perspective, this brief stresses the importance…

Researchers have identified a civilising mission in elementary schools in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century, particularly in poor urban areas. School log books from the 14 schools in Birmingham and Leicester, supplemented by other primary and secondary sources, are examined for insights into how headteachers perceived, and acted…

Today's children spend less and less time in the outdoors, leading Richard Louv in 2008 to coin the term "nature deficit disorder." Louv pointed out that experiences with nature are essential to a child's physical and emotional development and that the lack of these types of experiences has led to an increase in child obesity, attention…

For more than 20 years, the efficacy of using the wraparound approach to support high-risk youth has been examined in educational and community settings. Few studies show the value of wraparound service from either a school- or community-based agency as a dropout prevention strategy. Findings from a federal research grant project suggest that many…