The substance of current educational reform neglects disadvantaged students while their numbers have increased 30 percent since 1960. Raising standards without providing strategies for helping disadvantaged students will increase the already high dropout rate. Discusses ways to mobilize instructional and community resources for disadvantaged…

Discusses issues involved in disseminating accurate information about AIDS. Public fears derive from misinformation that the disease is transmitted by casual contact. The older student population will become proportionately more affected, and this is the group educators should assist. Includes a bibliography for educators. (CJH)

Presents the results from a 1984 national survey of high school community service programs. Findings include: 27 percent of high schools offer some kind of community service programs, enrollments vary greatly, females outnumber males, more than half of the programs have no hispanics, and 36 percent have no black students. Includes tables,…

With parent and community input, the school board can develop policies that will prevent unnecessary conflicts and help resolve others involving controversial issues in the curriculum. (Author/DCS)

Author proposes that the traditional concept of the teacher as a servant of the community may act as a resistor to change and may have to be overcome before any significant change in the status of teachers can occur. (Author/RK)

The loss of public confidence in the schools can be countered through carefully thought-out programs of individual and group action. (Author)

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)

In Baltimore, Maryland, 49 schools are working with the National Network of Partnership-2000 Schools at Johns Hopkins University to build comprehensive, permanent partnership programs with their families and communities. This article profiles three elementary schools that attribute their success to action teams, six types of family involvement,…

Following a bullying episode at a rural Alberta junior high school, staff created a zero-tolerance policy (of automatic suspensions or expulsions) toward future incidents. Administrators should be proactive in dealing with student violence, use a multifaceted approach, form an advisory program, consider group dynamics, refrain from…

A student survey at a relatively inclusive Rhode Island elementary school revealed some environmental deficits. Many students saw the atmosphere as unsafe, uncomfortable, divisive, and unwelcoming. To facilitate community, staff began questioning before advising, and devised structures that allow students to welcome new students and to succeed on…

Under the guidance of a new superintendent, an underfunded and uninspired rural New England school district galvanized community support for school improvement and completely revitalized its program through collaborative decision making. Goal setting, used by individual classroom teachers, committees, and administrative teams, became part of the…

In one Iowa school district's (state mandated) global education program, students contemplate (1) their roles and stakes in world issues; and (2) ways to pursue dreams and desired outcomes through available governmental and nongovernmental avenues. A sidebar describes the Odyssey of the Mind international problem-solving competition. (MLH)

Inclusive schools have a cohesive sense of community open to differences and responsive to individual needs. This sense of community is disrupted by the practice of pulling out gifted children for special services. Inclusion involves changes in philosophy, curriculum, teaching strategy, and structural organization. Schools should embrace…

A rural Minnesota district with a declining regional population and little public support involved the community in developing a consensus for reforms and creating a common vision and action plan for each school. Innovations were adopted regarding curriculum, scheduling, technology use, and marketing approaches. (MLH)

A seafaring school-to-work program in Kealakekua, Hawaii, encourages community members to help high school students rediscover ancestral roots and prepare for the future. On both ocean and land, students learn an integrated core curriculum of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Community professionals and business leaders…