Compares a 1970s-era Canadian high school's failure to sustain its innovative character with challenges faced by a similar, recently founded high school. Both schools experienced problems with leadership succession, staff recruitment and retention, expanding enrollments, district and policy context, and community support. Recommendations are…

The superintendent of Coventry (Rhode Island) Schools explains how he converted annual town meetings from uncivil, interminable budget-slashing sessions to expressions of community support for student-centered reforms and a construction/renovation bond issue. The board grasped assessment difficulties by taking state-mandated tests for…

Educators are feeling pressured to accommodate students, parents, and taxpayers to garner community support. Principals pursue customer intimacy; people are demanding their rights; and taxpayers, including aging baby boomers, are searching for bargains. American Federation of Teachers President Al Shanker finds academic standards and customer…

Supports "The Ohio Literacy Initiative" (a document the Ohio Department of Education developed as a resource for districts interested in designing and implementing an effective, comprehensive literacy framework) as it calls for community efforts to help districts attain and support confident and articulate readers and writers. (NH)

Investigated the social origins of black physicians from poor, rural, southern communities, examining contextual factors that helped explain their great academic and professional success as young adults. Argues that it was the community that identified and nurtured these gifted children, thus making it possible for them to attend college and…

A school renovation referendum's success hinged on a superintendent's visit to Joseph Graves, outspoken leader of an anti-tax group. Graves's book advises educators to marshall the facts and then talk with voters on committees, not at them. After exhaustive discussion, groups will make their own recommendations. (MLH)

Since 1962, the National Center for Community Education and the Coalition for Community Schools (NCCE) has been promoting community schools by providing leadership development, training and technical assistance. The Coalition is an alliance of 170 national, state and local organizations that promotes community schools as the most effective vehicle…

Background: This study involves 50 participants from a rural county in S.W. Georgia and examines the conditions and settings that existed at the target school as to the increase in student attrition at the alternative school. Purpose: To take a closer look at the student attrition problem in the target school and make contributions to begin to…

This report results from regional forums across the country to assess the current state of nonprofit arts in the United States. The report describes a cautionary tale about this nation's cultural legacy, the economic and social conditions surrounding the nonprofit arts, compartmentalization of the arts in community life, the place of the arts in…

This brief reports on a day-long workshop where eight rural teaching principals shared the joys and frustrations of their multiple roles. The multiple roles of teaching principals in the school and community result in role conflict and role ambiguity, which leads to stress and anxiety. Newly hired teaching principals are often caught between…

The skills needed by the principal for developing and maintaining good school/community relations are synthesized from recent research and presented in this brief document. These universal concepts are applicable to both large and small schools. The topics included are the principal's responsibility to the community, necessary political skills,…

Using community resources, Bridgeport, Connecticut develops and implements an environmental education program. Workshops focused on the concepts of ecology, biology, botany, and geology. Trained volunteers, scheduled into schools, offer in class presentations and conduct environmental explorations. In service workshops are provided for teachers to…

Maintaining an effective school system means retaining the outstanding teachers supporting it. According to a recent survey, many southern California teachers felt they would be disappointed if their children entered the profession. In California alone, there are 49,000 inactive teachers. One problem may be student discipline. Whereas top…

This booklet is written from the perspective that small towns can survive in changing times with the right leadership. It is intended for use by educators involved with community development or by extension educators. The attitudes and behaviors of leaders are key factors that will help communities cope with change. No longer will a town survive…

Monetary support is essential to the survival of speech interpretation programs in the 1980s, and the community is one viable alternative to dwindling academic channels of support. Two strategies have proved vital to securing community support for the interpretation program at an Indiana university: (1) networking, maintaining a group of faculty…