The problems we face in America's schools and cities stem from our orientation to the individual/community relationship. Selves and communities are interconnected, interdependent, and relational. Implications for school policy and practice are discussed through the metaphor of a classroom, contrasting classic liberal and sociological…

Examines the place of caring, constructivist learning, and community in teachers' professional development. Professional-learning communities provide a conversational space for connecting teachers' personal, practical knowledge in the classroom with the larger professional-knowledge landscape. Profiles two professional-development initiatives that…

Explores how interaction within an organization facilitates or hinders creation of "communities of difference." Examines how constructing a sense of "we" or "they" may be rigid or exclusive, thus hindering community building. Offers examples from school settings and recommendations for promoting inclusion of…

While Carol Gilligan was countering Lawrence Kohlberg's justice theories with feminist theories of caring, Kohlberg was inaugurating an alternative, caring-centered, "just-community" high school. The just-community approach draws on Dewey's and Piaget's notions of schools as democracies nourishing moral development and Durkheim's vision…

Presents three views of community: a panoramic vista of common images, the landscape of community in higher education, and the concept of community in professors' and UCEA members' lives. Distinguishes between incidental and intentional communities and asserts the primacy of diversity, mutual respect, integrity, honesty, listening, and caring. (10…

Describes how to create a safe, healing environment for children recovering from the effects of trauma. Discusses basic assumptions, values, goals, and the process that must be shared by all system members. Moving to an injury-based perspective can increase teachers' understanding of students' problematic behaviors and help students avoid…

An exploratory case study used surveys and qualitative research techniques to investigate relationships in student characteristics, student attitudes, teacher qualities, and classroom factors that influenced student satisfaction and success in a college physiology class. For most students, satisfaction depended on the supportive classroom…