A good deal of evidence now suggests that a strong sense of community in schools has benefits for both staff members and students, while providing a necessary foundation for school improvement. This digest provides an overview of the literature on schools as communities. The digest identifies the elements of community schools, the effects of…

Many facilities in American public schools are in disrepair, a situation negatively affecting the morale, health, and learning of students and teachers. Many schools postpone repairs during tight financial times to pay for academic programs. Some school officials and communities are pursuing innovative, grassroots solutions to maintaining school…

Schools within schools are large public schools that have been divided into smaller autonomous subunits to create a sense of community and cohesiveness among students and staff. This digest discusses the benefits, drawbacks, varieties, and sources of funding for schools within schools. Designers of these schools seek the advantages of both large…

This digest reviews ways to provide Arab Americans with a supportive school environment and all students with an accurate and unbiased education about the Middle East. The school climate will make Arab American students feel more welcome if Arab culture is included in multicultural courses and activities, and if the staff works to eliminate…

This ERIC digest discusses meeting the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered school youth, i.e., supporting their ability to learn while maintaining an environment for them that is free from physical and psychological abuse. It describes the various policy initiatives protecting the rights of lesbian and gay students and indicates…

Turning around a low-performing school is a complex process in which cause-effect relationships are difficult to isolate. But recent interest in helping low-performing schools--spurred on by the reforms mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act--has generated some useful research and thoughtful analysis. This digest explores some of the key…

This book debates the values being taught in American public schools. The book considers whether moral, ethical, social, and religious values of any kind should be taught or inculcated in the public school setting--specifically, should the values embodied in the literature typically read in English literature classrooms be advocated by the…

This monograph is written to help school administrators and policy makers, in addressing the question of safe schools, separate analytically what is "school" and what is "society" in order to better understand the real span of the school's control. The central question is: what are the characteristics of safe and effective…

This monograph reviews the literature in three key domains (home, school, and public policy), each of which appears to foster achievement in African American children. Three core sections comprise this review. The first section looks at the research on family influences, including socioeconomic factors, the socialization of achievement, the…