Article explores the question of community involvement as "which" community. (GB)

Founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Community of Caring fosters in staff and students an increased sense of family and family-member responsibility; demonstration of mutual respect, trust, moral consciousness, individual responsibility; and a sense of caring and helping others through community service. Program components and benefits are…

To help administrators guard against the proliferation of meaningless innovations, the author suggests 10 basic questions that should be asked before plans for any innovative programs progress too far. (Editor)

Describes a young, future-oriented high school in New Hampshire aiming to foster student thinking, honor teamwork, inspire teacher self-reflection and teaming, and provide a caring learning environment. Key personalization ingredients include appropriate mindset, consistent focus on mission, creation of a respectful and caring environment,…

A Florida principal discusses four areas encompassing team collaboration and community in schools: the administrator-guidance connection and teacher relationships; teacher-to-teacher relationships; teacher-to-student relationships; and student-to-student relationships. Principals can help by serving as guidance counselors and promoting…

To make schools safer places for students, educators must incorporate eight conditions that promote young people's aspirations: belonging, community, and participation; sense of accomplishment; heroes (caring adults); curiosity and creativity; spirit of adventure; fun and excitement; leadership and responsibility; and self-confidence. (MLH)

Schools that are frontline innovators have difficulty sustaining their leadership thrust, the writer contends, primarily because of difficulty in the broad areas of training, leadership, professionalism, and community. (Editor)

Students benefit when educators personalize a high school by developing a sense of community. A Puerto Rico international school employed middle-level concepts (interdisciplinary teams and advisory programs) to build community. Community-minded educators develop a definition unique to their school, know the characteristics of effective…

Successful school program innovation must incorporate technology as a tool to enhance teaching and learning. Employing a club structure that encourages student and staff leadership development, a Kansas junior high school integrates technology by organizing Web sites around themes and topics supporting the notion of community. Contains 12 Web site…

Defining community politically (as a flexible arena for debating perspectives and achieving purpose) provides different ways to consider diversity. Diversity becomes not an anomaly but an integral part of the community process; conflict is legitimized as appropriate and inevitable in achieving school purposes. Administrators must mediate conflict,…

Character education builds community by establishing a set of core values that match a school's ideals. Character-education proponents should inspire teachers to discuss ethics in their daily activities and model transformational/transactional leadership styles. Leaders must know their environment, formalize an infrastructure, involve others, and…

Membership in the worldwide community means that students must possess globally competitive skills. In 1993, the author and the Colorado General Assembly worked to pass a comprehensive educational reform strategy that established "model" content standards in mathematics, science, geography, history, reading, and writing. Uniform…

Service learning is a versatile, developmentally appropriate strategy that integrates public service into student instruction and connects the classroom with the surrounding community and the world. Service learning promotes personal, social, and emotional growth; develops a sense of civic responsibility; provides leadership opportunities; and…

Like other parents who phoned her at work, a dedicated associate commissioner of education grew increasingly frustrated with a system that failed to challenge her children. She enrolled them in a private alternative school that stressed community and viewed education as a privilege demanding great student effort. (MLH)