The decision about how and when to open schools to in-person instruction has been a key question for policymakers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The instructional modality of schools has implications not only for the health and safety of students and staff, but also student learning and the degree to which parents can engage in job activities.…

Regular physical activity is associated with improvements in overall health. Although resident involvement in neighborhood social activities is positively associated with physical activity, neighborhood design features, including residential density, have varied associations with physical activity. Using data from a multiethnic sample of 696…

This paper reports on an ethnographic study of administrators, faculty, parents and community members in one remote Michigan school district. The purpose of the study is to describe and explain how Michigan's educational reform perspective--arguably similar to the education reform perspectives of many states--encountered the educational…

A new measure of community well-being is developed based on the notion that community residents perceive the quality-of-life (QOL) impact of community services and conditions in various life domains (e.g., family, social, leisure, health, financial, cultural, consumer, work, spiritual, and environmental domains). These perceptions influence…

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller "hotspots"--are to "nontraditional" problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and…

As part of the Community and Environment in Rural America (CERA) initiative, the Carsey Institute has been investigating broad trends between rural community types, including the education level of residents and their parents. Since 2007, Carsey researchers have conducted over 17,000 telephone surveys with randomly selected adult Americans from…

Research in 37 neighborhoods in Flint, Michigan, investigated the association between the extent of racial integration in a neighborhood and residents' satisfaction with, awareness of, and attitudes toward various aspects of neighborhood and community life. The influence of demographic factors was also examined. The degree of neighborhood…

The "Access to Democracy" project has two broad goals. It is an effort to understand community beliefs, attitudes and conditions that shape educational outcomes for community youth, and it is a way to focus community discussions on efforts that support higher educational attainment for residents. This report focuses on the lessons…

Census data and mailed questionnaires were used to test three hypotheses about unemployment impacts: labor-market infusion, labor-market overload; and a balance of positive and negative impacts differing with occupational status. Results showed that blue-collar persons--both newcomers and long-term residents--experienced much higher unemployment…

A rural township in one of the fastest growing counties in northern Michigan was selected as a prototype for changes in small rural communities experiencing rapid population growth due to inmigration. In 1973, 180 permanent residents and 58 seasonal homeowners in Hayes Township completed questionnaires covering household composition; family…