The close-knit, personal nature of small rural communities results in school and community operating as a single integrated social structure. Useful rural school improvement strategies must, therefore, address needs that are recognized by both the local school and the community and must operate in a style congruent with the local setting. Although…

The first U.S. charter school opened in 1992, and the scale of the charter movement has since grown to 4,000 schools and more than a million students in 40 states plus the District of Columbia. With this growth has also come a contentious debate about the effects of the schools on their own students and on students in nearby traditional public…

A study of black college students to assess whether they are better served by predominantly black colleges or by integrated, predominantly white colleges is discussed. About 3,000 freshmen and seniors at eight predominantly white and seven predominantly black colleges were studied in four states with different social mores and attitudes toward…