As the operational center of the Civil Rights Movement, the Black church fostered community, functioned as an educative space, and promoted collaborative efforts among churches. Similarly, the modern Black church has the opportunity to invest in educating, organizing, and mobilizing people within the church and the local community. By investing in…

Strapped for cash, a Massachusetts high school creates its own venture capital fund to incentivize teachers to create programs that improve student learning. The result has been higher test scores and higher job satisfaction. One important program is credited with helping close the achievement gap at the school, while others have helped ambitious…

The focus of this article is about the utilization of student leadership at the University. Based on research, student leadership opportunities at the university have been frequently at a low percentage (Zimmerman, Burkhart, 2002). The researcher identifies practical ways to involve students in various leadership activities. Emphases are placed on…

Describes the development of an alternative elementary school in Hartford's Black South Arsenal Community. Contrasts organization, staff, student academic performance, and curriculum in the alternative school with those of the neighborhood public school. Attributes positive outcomes in the former to a strong relationship among parents, teachers,…

Describes the Rochester Education Initiative, sponsored by the Urban League of Rochester, New York, whose goals are to inform the community of the crisis of low academic achievement in the public schools, and to involve the total community in a set of strategies to correct the problem. (FMW)

Analyzes the intergroup relations in Japanese society and Japan's educational system. Challenges the view that Japan is a homogeneous society by presenting the various forms of discrimination against Koreans, Ainu, and the burakumin. Suggests that despite ostracism and isolation, groups can affect public policy and achieve social advancement. (SA)

Discusses both ideological and managerial precepts that came into play in the school decentralization struggle that took place in New York City in the 1970s. Describes the impact of decentralization on one poor, predominantly Black district. (GC)

This paper documents how a group of concerned parents and the New Settlement Apartments (NSA), a unique housing development group in New York City that manages 900 units of low to moderate income housing, used community organizing to try to raise academic achievement in their neighborhood elementary school. It discusses why schools in low-income…

Superintendants and school board members from many large cities in the country came to the Industry-Education Conference to talk across the table with executives from many of the nation's largest corporations. They spoke candidly about the troubles of urban school systems and about whether and how, and sometimes when and where, they might help…

This dissertation examines the developmental process and output (student performance) of a public alternative school, the Everywhere School, founded by the citizens of the South Arsenal community of Hartford, Connecticut. The objectives of the study were: (1) to explore the process whereby a community organization interacted with the Hartford…

This book examines the efforts of Valley Interfaith--a community-based organization in the south Texas borderlands--to improve the living conditions of low-income residents and immigrants and the public schools their children attend. Valley Interfaith is unusual in that it crosses the boundary separating the worlds of community organizing and…

Interviews conducted in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District sought answers for improving educational quality in the district, which has the highest dropout rate, the lowest holding power, and the lowest standardized test scores in Kentucky. Members of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development interviewed 155 people from 15 of…

This guide is designed to help school district leaders build public understanding and support for comprehensive school reform (CSR) by introducing the concept to schools, parents, and the community. Without broad-based public understanding and support, it will be difficult for the district to meet its central goal of improving student achievement.…

This paper provides an overview of national and state efforts to address school-performance scores as a means of monitoring local school productivity for the 21st century. School-accountability report cards were introduced in the early 1990s to provide parents and others with interesting and useful information about schools. However, many of these…

A community education center based on liberation theology principles was created by the Hispanic immigrant community to address educational needs of Hispanic youth. Interviews with 16 parents revealed that parent leadership was activated at the center and that children had benefitted academically from after-school homework assistance in a…