Connecting schools and students to community members is a mutually beneficial effort that can transform education and society. In this article, Josh Schachter, founder of CommunityShare--an innovative nonprofit initiative that catalyzes real-world learning experiences by connecting teachers and students with the wisdom, skills, and lived…

The editorial by Bull et al. (2008) on connections between informal and formal learning made explicit one element of solving what Koehler and Mishra (2008) termed a "wicked problem." This wicked (complex, ill-structured) problem involves working with teachers for effective integration of technology in support of student learning. The…

"Innovations for Student Organizations" (Gandy, Snider) describes the Arizona chapter of Future Business Leaders of America/Phi Beta Lambda; "Scholarship + Leadership + Cooperation = Delta Pi Epsilon" (Brown) discusses the national honor society in graduate business education; and "Loyalty + Service + Progress = Pi Omega…

Describes a partnership between two high schools and community housing organizations in two small towns in rural Arizona that is resulting in the transformation of substandard homes in older neighborhoods for low income residents. (JOW)

Reviews presentations which discuss how to recognize the needs of culturally diverse children, respect and value their backgrounds, and make their education a truly positive experience. (SR)

This issue of the Arizona Reading Journal focuses on the theme "reading recovery" and includes the following articles: "Why Is an Inservice Programme for Reading Recovery Teachers Necessary?" (Marie M. Clay); "What Is Reading Recovery?" (Gay Su Pinnell); "Teaching a Hard To Teach Child" (Constance A.…

This report argues, using Arizona as an illustration, for a market-based school funding paradigm characterized by per-pupil allocations that follow each student to the school of their choice. The report explains what is wrong with the current system, compares the market-based approach to others that have been proposed, and demonstrates how…

Discusses cooperation between public libraries and schools and describes programs developed by the Chandler (AZ) Public Library Youth Services department for teachers, including longer check-out periods for library materials and a telephone service to hold materials for pick-up. (LRW)

Offers six Arizona teachers' comments on the new Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP). Discusses how the test affects children, whether the testing procedure is easily understood by teachers, how the ASAP differs from a standardized test, how the classroom teaching process has changed as a result of the test, concerns about the test, and…

Illustrates the potential for inconsistent interpretations of the statutory regulations of the Education Consolidation Improvement Act by describing the different approaches Connecticut, Arizona, New York, and Mississippi are taking in implementing the law. (CMG)

This paper uses the charter-school legislation of three states-Arizona, California, and Michigan--as a lens to understand the policy values embodied in school--choice reforms. It questions the prevailing rubrics of the Center for Education Reform and the American Federation of Teachers. Briefly stated, the former ranks laws as either…

Four articles from this special report examine the charter school movement and whether it has the staying power to change American schooling. The articles are: (1) "Declarations of Independence" (Mark Walsh), which discusses the Boston Renaissance and Marblehead charter schools in Massachusetts, among others; (2) "Laws of the…

After a 1978 meeting, eight professional education organizations drafted a position statement on the essentials of education. The statement affirmed that the interdependence of skills and content is the central concept of the essentials of education, and that subject disciplines are interdependent. The statement also listed specific essentials of…

Describes a study designed to determine political attitudes and knowledge of prospective and practicing Arizona teachers and to ascertain how this correlates with reported teaching styles. Results indicate the sample was knowledgeable and capable of providing citizenship education, the separate samples differed in teaching style and attitudes, and…

Consideration of choice-based reform in educational governance rests heavily on the assumption that markets will improve school performance. Nonetheless, little empirical research has examined how educational organizations respond to competition. This paper hypothesizes that administrators are likely to respond by adopting governance…