The present dissertation features two studies utilizing secondary data to explore the impact of geography on access to and utilization of early developmental services, including Part C early intervention (EI) and autism diagnosis. Both studies examined the role of geography on a micro-level using geographic information system (GIS) based…

Young children bring rich social, cultural, and political knowledge to school, cultivated in their homes and communities. This knowledge, ranging from household skills to multilingual practices, is often marginalized in schools that value different norms. Drawing from ethnographic studies in Illinois and New York kindergarten classrooms, this…

Describes how Highland Park, Illinois, school administrators and board members convinced their community that the Elm Place School -- the oldest school and the most symbolic of the community's cultural and social heritage -- needed facility upgrading and program improvements. Provides the procedures in acquiring their 68,000 square foot addition…

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF A SAMPLE OF 48 SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SYSTEM INVESTIGATED THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THREE MAJOR VARIABLES--COMMUNITY STRUCTURE, COMMUNITY LEVEL OR POPULAR DECISION-MAKING AND INSTITUTIONAL DECISION-MAKING. DATA UTILIZED IN THE STUDY WERE VOTES CAST IN DISTRICT BOARD ELECTIONS AND REFERENDA,…

MORE THAN IN ALMOST ANY OTHER PROFESSIONAL GROUP, THE ATTITUDES OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL ARE INFLUENCED BY COMMUNITY FACTORS. GENERAL ATTITUDES OF WHITE PUBLICS WILL CERTAINLY BY SIGNIFICANT FOR SPECIFIC ATTITUDES OF SCHOOL PERSONNEL TOWARD INTEGRATION. MOST SCHOOL PERSONNEL ARE MEMBERS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. THEIR CLASS VALUES AND STATUS CONCERNS ENTER…

This report describes residents' efforts to generate urban change and arrest the decline of their community, Edgewater, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The report also examines how events in Edgewater affected and were affected by developments in Uptown (the adjoining predominantly commercial district) and in the Winthrop-Kenmore Corridor that…

Focuses on two aspects of governance and policy: the electoral process by which community college trustees are selected and the responsiveness of colleges to their communities as manifested by their programs. Available from Journal of Politics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. (Author/IRT)

VARIATIONS IN THE STYLE AND CONTENT OF THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, AND IN THE DIVISION OF AUTHORITY AMONG DIFFERING SOCIAL-STRUCTURAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS WERE STUDIED. DATA INCLUDED OBSERVATION OF MEETINGS, INTERVIEWS, AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNITY PRESS. THE RESEARCH SITES SELECTED FOR THIS STUDY WERE FOUR SUBURBAN COOK COUNTY ELEMENTARY…

The proceedings at fifteen career education site visits are detailed in this phase 2 final report. (Phase 1, community organization mini-conferences, is described in CE 020 110.) Notes from these visitations cover such programs as career education centers, school system-based programs, and education-work councils. Several site-visit purposes are…