Summer school makes an unlikely candidate for a bright spot in education reform during these difficult economic times. It occupies a long-held negative place in U.S. culture, prompting dread in the hearts of many former and current students. Summer school conjures up images of sitting in hot classrooms and receiving remedial instruction while…

Wright State University in Dalton, Ohio, seeks to serve and relate to the Dalton community by working toward harmony and educational renewal with the public schools. (DS)

Immigration is having a tremendous impact on U.S. schools, even in places like Dodge City, Kansas, where nearly a third of public school students are from new immigrant families. Ginsberg suggests that through engaging in visits to the homes of recent immigrants, the school community learns of the strengths, expertise, and "funds of…

Describes the Community-Assisted Schooling Alternatives (CASA) Vida Home School Enrichment Center, a K-6 center developed by Arizona's Kyrene School District for 120 home-schooled students. (PKP)

Compares a 1970s-era Canadian high school's failure to sustain its innovative character with challenges faced by a similar, recently founded high school. Both schools experienced problems with leadership succession, staff recruitment and retention, expanding enrollments, district and policy context, and community support. Recommendations are…

An urban community spotlighted declining mathematics achievement and took some measures, in which the students' performance increased substantially. The Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, engaged the entire community and launched the campaign called "Math Everywhere", which changed Benjamin Banneker's…

Much of the current distrust of schools is part of a consumer movement. Public relations programs are less effective than in previous years. Mechanisms for increasing parental participation are emerging. (Author/MLF)

From making holiday decorations for a local nursing home to serving food at a homeless shelter, students at Friends Academy in upstate New York participate in service activities designed to match their level of social awareness. Maurice Howard's sidebar shows how Maryland high schoolers participate in a state-mandated service-learning program that…

The "Passages" program is a curriculum that integrates heart, spirit, and community with strong academics. The program inspires feelings of connectedness in teenagers by addressing their unspoken needs: the search for meaning and purpose, longing for silence and solitude, urge for transcendence, hunger for joy and delight, creative…