Research indicates that partnerships between schools and neighborhood communities support student learning, improve schools, and strengthen families and neighborhoods. These partnerships expand the traditional educational mission of the school to include health and social services for children and their families and to involve the broader…

Although much of the community development work undertaken by women in Northern Ireland could be described as community relations, women's reluctance to use that label has led to neglect of their significant contributions. A more inclusive definition of community relations is needed. (SK)

Megan's law enables law enforcement to notify communities when convicted sex offenders reside in their neighborhoods. Investigates community members', law enforcement officials', and law students' attitudes toward community notification and other child abuse prevention measures. The groups significantly differed in support of Megan's Law and…

Research is reviewed on factors affecting attitudes toward mentally retarded persons, including contact, intervention, and information. (CL)

This paper introduces the notion of a spiritual component of adventure, with reference to the potential role of adventure within the peace and reconciliation process in Northern Ireland. Influenced by tradition and culture, past constructions of adventure have often associated it with educational benefits and personal development of specific…

Both the rural economy and the disability community in rural areas can benefit from a recognition that they are mutually dependent. With the decline of rural America, the economic base underpinning all aspects of disability support systems is weakening. In addition, rural disability services often are compartmentalized along functional lines with…

A survey of absentee voting in the Highline (Washington) School District revealed that mailed-in ballots have no better than--and often less than--a 50-50 chance of favoring school finance issues. School officials should reconsider encouraging the growth of voting by mail. (IW)

It was only in the late 1970s that Australian educationists began to devote particular attention to the development of multicultural education in Australian society. Nonetheless, Australia has made very substantial academic and practical contributions to a field which is of increasing worldwide interest. (BRR)

Explores geographical definition of communities and tendency for community relations to transcend geographical boundaries. Reinterprets Durkheim's theory of social solidarity to argue that division of labor directly reduces solidarity but indirectly increases solidarity through secondary groups, the state, and the cult of individuality. (LFL)

Develops a framework for examining how social capital contributes to the well-being of rural communities. Reviews the educational and social science literature on social capital, contrasting rational choice and embeddedness perspectives. Introduces the concept of entrepreneurial social infrastructure, which adds equality, inclusion, and agency to…

The 13 chapters in this volume, contributed by specialists from 11 countries, deal with how best to prepare teachers to meet the needs of both minority- and majority-culture pupils who are growing up in plural societies. The chapter titles are: (1) Cultural Diversity and Teacher Education (Maurice Craft); (2) Pluralism and Australian Teacher…

The recent, widespread trend toward rural migration can create disturbances in the organization of the host community by overloading community services and by creating conflict between oldtimers and newcomers. To obtain information about community disturbances and migration in Michigan, questionnaires were sent to a random sample of 21,792…

Although the economic expansion of the 1990s was felt even in small towns and rural areas, events in recent months point out that the economic health of rural America remains fragile. Rural manufacturing has suffered sizable employment declines in recent months and only modest expansion has occurred in the service sector--the lifeblood of rural…

Studies of persistent poverty in rural Texas, Mississippi, and Appalachia illustrate how political economies that rely on low wages and extreme control over labor generate rigid stratification. This structure of inequality determines social interaction and allocation of opportunities in rural communities, blocking upward mobility, and undermines…

Small communities require the services of professionals such as doctors and teachers, but most professionals are trained in metropolitan areas. Urban-trained professionals are seldom prepared for the social and cultural differences that confront them when they move to rural communities. Such newcomers frequently experience culture shock--the…