In this issue the authors have been asked to consider two sets of understandings about change and to comment on their implication for their educational goals and the methods they use to actualize these goals. The comments and suggestions from the author of this article grow out of his understanding of the purpose of K-12 education to promote…

In this Viewpoint, we aim to raise questions about the positioning of teachers and teacher knowledge in professional development networks. We contend that diverse purposes across professional development configurations labeled "networks" have been glossed over in the literature, obscuring important questions about teacher learning and its role in…

I spent the first two years of college at a two-year community in southern California. I had very sheltered high school experience, so attending college was exciting for me. In high school, I wasn't involved in extracurricular activities or organizations other than choir, and I didn't share my sexual orientation with others. College, I hoped, was…

Research conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) and others was criticized in an article by Alexandros M. Goudas and Hunter R. Boylan (2012) published in the "Journal of Developmental Education," Volume 36, Issue 1. They raise specific contentions related to the methodology applied in the CCRC studies, the review of…

This "Conversation Currents" features JoBeth Allen and Valerie Kinloch discussing their thoughts and experiences working with families and communities. Allen bases her comments on the belief that programs have to be adaptable to many different constituencies and demographics, and so must be recreated every year with every teacher and…

The quest to create engaged public research universities requires academe to confront a stark reality: inflexible administrative structures, historically embedded practices, status-quo thinking, and inertia. Until these obstacles are overcome, the retreat from public life will not be arrested. In this article, the author provides a sample of the…

Over the years, the author has tried to make the case that literacy instruction for faculty does not end at the point of hire, just as it does not end for students at the point of graduation. In fact, for both, the journey toward literacy has really just begun. This article was originally delivered as the College Celebration speech at the 2010…

In this paper, I suggest that community-based learning can act as a "public space" for the exchange of religious and non-religious identities. By providing a space for the collaboration between religiously-affiliated Universities and non-religiously affiliated community partners, community-based learning offers the opportunity for the negotiation…

School systems across the country are experiencing collateral damage from the Great Recession and struggle to balance their budgets in the face of decreased local revenue, cuts to state funding, and the disappearance of federal stimulus and jobs money. School district leaders describe their fiscal problems in crisis terms, and respond to immediate…

This final chapter provides observations about institutional research in community colleges derived from the preceding chapters and the issue editors' own experiences. Taken as a whole, the chapters in this issue, as well as the editors' experiences, suggest several observations about institutional research in community colleges. These include the…

This article is a response to Carolina Castano's article "Extending the purposes of science education." Drawing on personal memories of life in Bogota, I raise questions about the nature of violence in Colombia broadly, and ask how the intervention Castano proposes changes the ecology of violence in that country. It also ponders the…

It is both an honor and fitting that the "Journal of Community Psychology" presents to the discipline a series of papers included within a symposium entitled "Seymour Sarason in Memorial: Prospects for Community and Social Change" at the Biennial Conference on Community Research and Action on June 18th, 2011, in Chicago Illinois. These papers…

This article argues that faith-based schools are a necessary feature of democratic and pluralistic societies and a legitimate expression of human rights as constituted in the European Convention in Human Rights (2000). It further argues that if the rights of parents to have a real choice for faith-based schools (regardless of ability to pay) are…

These are perilous times for community colleges. State and federal departments of education are pressing the nation's two-year career and technical colleges to be accountable while the colleges experience reductions in state funding and try to streamline services. That pressure is intensified by a growing national expectation that community…

Jacques Bwira arrived in Uganda in 2000, having fled the violent conflict in his native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Though he had trained and worked as a teacher in Congo, he feared that speaking only French would prevent him from making a living in his new home. The police officer who interrogated Jacques on arrival in the capital…