Discusses the traditional lack of systematic planning in school curriculum development and argues that effective curriculum planning requires the study of curriculum research literature and the representative interaction of professional educators, students, and the community. Available from Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,…

Author, Superintendent of Spartanburg City Schools, Spartanburg, South Carolina, offers examples of innovations supported by the community. (CB)

Sixteen educators and noneducators comment on John Henry Martin's proposal to narrow the goals of schooling and involve others more fully in the education of adolescents. (Author/MLF)

The students in a K-1 class at a Washington elementary school built a mock four-seater airplane with some community assistance. They hired a building contractor (promising him red wriggler worms from the class compost bin) to help design the plane, obtained a Boeing certificate for $500 worth of spare parts, and attended an air show as exhibitors.…

Christopher, Illinois, a rural, economically depressed community of 2,800, is reaping the benefits from two innovative, community-based technology programs. The Christopher High School District established its award-winning technology program in 1995. The Christopher Elementary School District implemented a similar plan in 1996. Both initiatives…

From leading garden tours to planning a visit for Japanese teachers and participating in community theater, middle schoolers at Fort Worth's Applied Learning Academy learn academic content by working on community projects. Students' writing skills soared as they developed, edited, and field-tested brochures and trail-guide maps for their botanical…

The Executive Director of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) identifies three ways in which the U.S. can improve its science education. The first is to ensure that all science teachers have enough knowledge of the content they are teaching. Second, the science education community needs to improve the science education standards by…

Suggests how educational leaders can adjust their leadership style to increase the involvement of parents and other community members in multicultural community schools. (JG)

The past superintendent of the Toledo (Ohio) public schools explains how a community survey was used to set school priorities and develop curriculum in a way that significantly increased school support. (JM)

To rectify the problem of a mostly White teaching and administrative staff in a Delaware school district with a 17 percent Black student enrollment, administrators set up conferences with Black community members to discuss teacher recruitment, expectations for Black students, and the districts' effectiveness in meeting minority student needs. (MLH)

Community participation has many faces, but is moving increasingly away from a group notion toward the individual participant, that is, each and every parent and student as educational consumer. (Author)

Teacher requirements for media centers will change from checking out materials to be used in the classroom to development of personalized curriculum materials; future centers will provide resources and facilities to meet these individual teacher needs. (JD)