We, as community college English teachers, have the opportunity to empower students who have been subjected to years of top-down, teacher-directed education. We have the obligation to make them critical thinkers, improving their chances of being thoughtful and successful adults. It all begins with the way we teach writing and the respect we have…

This article presents an interview with Peter J. Young, Director of Technology at Rockford Public Schools in Michigan. In the interview, Young talked about how his district has done a lot more automation to integrate its disparate systems. He also discussed how they streamline their systems, how parents and community benefit from these efforts,…

Community education once was an educational philosophy aimed at improving public schools and the communities they served. Today, community education may well offer a promise of salvation for American education. This book, containing six chapters, questions the present authoritarian, hierarchial American public school establishment. Beginning with…

Considers the community services divisions of Michigan's community colleges vital elements in economic recovery. Highlights Schoolcraft College's efforts to attract new businesses and assist existing companies through training and retraining programs. Discusses state support for economic development projects and the participation of community…

The community service/continuing education (CS/CE) departments at Michigan's 29 community colleges have developed a network of joint programming in order to share and duplicate successful programs across the state. This process has been sponsored through the Michigan Community College Community Services Association (MCCCSA), which was founded in…

It is time for reform advocates to expand their emphasis on improving instruction and school management to include a comprehensive component for addressing barriers to learning. In doing so, they must pursue this third component with the same level of priority they devote to the other two. That is, such an enabling (or learner support) component…

The most practical and productive response to how to deal with hard times seems to be coming from those rural schools which are renewing and energizing their partnership with business and the community. There are three keys to this cooperation: on all sides leaders specify the persons who are to work together; leaders see to it that people…

Chapter 4 of a volume on school leadership, this chapter is a revised version of the issue of "School Management Digest" entitled "School Based Management." It draws from the work of many authorities to define, explain, and make a case for school-based management, a system of educational administration in which the school is…

A public school teacher recounts her personal struggle against compulsory unionization in Michigan and describes the adverse effects of collective bargaining on public education. These include loss of public support, antagonism between teachers and administrators, and a decline in teacher professionalism and educational quality. (TE)

Reports on Jim Jacobs and Roberta Teahen's efforts to develop a systematic approach of integrating career and academic education. The movement began in 1995 with representatives from four Michigan community colleges. Presents examples from various colleges across Michigan that demonstrate success in curriculum integration. (VWC)

Little has been written about how to manage school-district conflict produced by a privatization initiative. This paper presents findings of a case study that investigated the politics of implementing a privatization initiative in a Michigan school district. The case demonstrates that no board of education should initiate a public discussion about…

Multi-Media Detectives was a project where fifth graders in three Michigan school districts were linked to a children's bulletin board. The goal was to have students "think global but link local" by using online resources to search for local facts and local celebrities and to bring them to life via technology. (JMV)

Developed by an advisory board of industry and education representatives to raise issues for the consideration of policy makers, community college administrators, labor leaders, and managers in Michigan, this report discusses the increasing significance of training to industry; the challenge to public education and, in particular, to community…

A discussion is provided of how breakthroughs in the application of computers in the manufacturing of automobiles affect the development of community college programs, with particular emphasis on how Michigan community colleges have developed a capacity to respond to changes in this field. First, the paper explains what computer-based…

The focus of this paper is on issues and concepts in the retention and recruitment of Hispanic students in post-secondary education. First, national post-secondary enrollment declines are projected and the implications of these declines are discussed for admissions and recruitment personnel. Next, the report considers Hispanic enrollments in…