Increasingly, colleges and universities are engaging in service learning, but for service learning to be successful in rural communities, students and faculty must look beyond the stereotypes of rural life and see rural people and places for what they are. Rural stereotypes are discussed, and a "stay option" is identified as a common…

Are state accountability systems hurting minority and low- income children's education or increasing equity? The answer is both, depending on which system, interacting components, or time periods are being considered. System flaws in Texas and elsewhere may be distracting folks from historic improvement possibilities. (Contans 23 references.) (MLH)

Examines the position of the mother tongue in the proposed additive bilingual programs in South Africa. Sociolinguistic, cultural, and political factors are examined, language use and attitudes of South Africans to language and education are discussed, and the practical possibilities for the implementation of mother-tongue medium of instruction…

Reflects on the nature of power and the value of collaboration in Writing Program Administration work. Argues that the WPA position is a contradictory one which contains within it the paradox of powerless power (having responsibility and little authority, having insider knowledge and being institutionally ignorant, and needing to cooperate and…

One management-development approach treats finance as a learning opportunity to assist school leaders in addressing the moral, ethical, political, and resource-related tensions faced while enacting daily leadership responsibilities. Administrators learn to make difficult choices among competing interests while advancing their school's capacity for…

Examines the interplay between the federal Title I schoolwide program and the first 2 years of a systemwide reform, Children Achieving, in high-poverty, urban Philadelphia schools. In spite of intense institutional competition and contention at the district level, there were major efforts to facilitate policy coordination at different levels of…

Describes how the "deep structure" of schooling (society's widely shared assumptions about what schools are for and how they should function) works to defeat change in education. Extrapolates from this to predict the potential for permanent success of some current reform efforts. Discusses how site-based school-improvement projects might…

Increasing numbers of Canadians are removed from contact with nature and environmental degradation is increasing, yet the Ontario government is cutting funding for environmental and outdoor education in the public school system. Statements by scientists, educators, authors, government officials, and environmentalists note the importance of…

Describes education and special education in Spain, examining different views on deafness among hearing and deaf people and noting educational models for deaf students (oralism versus bilingualism). Presents a vision of education for deaf people, focusing on the fact that teachers and administrators have a very early, intense role in the lives of…

Examines the political transformation in Latvia that brought increased democratization and decentralization and resulted in changes to the educational system and teachers' professional roles and responsibilities. The paper notes difficulties encountered by teachers in assimilating reforms within their professional identity and analyzes the…

Examines the national educational assessment systems of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay to explore the role of politics and state-polity relations in shaping the design, implementation, and impact of national assessment systems. Discusses the rapid global diffusion of national assessment systems and the impact of centralized versus decentralized…

Describes an approach to teaching politics that employs actions, scenes, agents, agency, and purpose to encourage students to experience and analyze political behavior. Argues that students participate more in class when they assume a role that is clearly "not themselves." Uses a course about the U.S. presidency as an example. (DSK)

Summarizes a statement by the Task Force on Civic Education in the Next Century about the need for, and objectives of, a civic education program. Includes the Task Force's Statement of Purpose and goals for the American Political Science Association's Civic Education Projects. Includes list of task force members. (DSK)

Examines a woman superintendent's 2-year tenure in a small southern city from a feminist perspective. Against a backdrop of community/district politics, shows how gender stereotyping still influences how female superintendents are perceived as school-system leaders. Women must resist traditional images reserved for them and reinvent the…

Examines Long Island, New York, school politics and finance, noting that students in many underfunded schools in the area perform significantly below regional standards. Focuses on the Amityville School District, examining the battle in state courts over unequal funding, the impact of legislative inaction on Long Island, and public support for and…