The superintendent of a wealthy, rural school district describes the unique context of schooling reform in Westchester County, New York. Pressures for reform coming from parents and the community lead to interschool competition and spark micropolitics that spill out into the community. Successful schools have greater autonomy and empowered…

This panel presentation reacts to "America's Choice" (a publication of the National Center on Education and the Economy), which addresses the preparedness of students to enter the work force. Recognizing the need of continual evaluation of education programs, the paper states that generalizing problems of other areas to rural schools is…

In light of the Levittown v. Nyquist decision, which found New York State's educational funding method unconstitutional, this report presents the recommendations for increasing New York's educational equity made by a statewide task force. For each of 27 proposals that garnered support from any task force member, the report discusses research…

Describes how community members from Newburgh, New York, successfully battled against a school board proposal that called for expanding the town's high school to an enrollment of over 3,000 students. Rejects the notion that "bigger is better" and criticizes state funding formulas that create large schools by offering higher reimbursement…

A statewide task force established to improve educational equity in New York State describes its activities and results in this report. The task force chairman's letter of submittal discusses the Levittown v. Nyquist decision that led to the task force's formation and reviews the group's deliberations. The report then summarizes task force…

Demographic changes between 1970 and 1980 will affect New York rural schools in the 1980's. In the 1970's overall New York state population declined nearly 4% (about 700,000 persons), but rural areas gained about 100,000. Rural New York school districts now serve a population of about 2.5 million, a 5% increase since 1970. During the 1980's,…

The trends in post-industrial society toward decentralization, diversity, and individualization, with emphasis on synthesis rather than analysis, require educators who are more flexible, adaptable, and capable of managing diversity; this can prove advantageous to small and rural schools, which have long been using such a philosophy. Educators will…