The 50th anniversary of the creation of "Foxfire" magazine and the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center merits the question of how that innovative program of teaching and learning influences education today. Despite its troubled history, the program continues to exist and won the 2015 Georgia Governor's Awards for the Arts and Humanities…

In 2007, Walter P. Webb Middle School faced a crisis. One evening in January, the superintendent at the time held a meeting at the school in Austin, Texas, to let students, parents, teachers, and community members know that at the end of the academic year, their school would close. Thanks to a new state law focused on accountability, the…

This paper intends to describe the recent experience of a small, rural, two-year technical college. After four decades of success, the college had found itself in a difficult situation with a substantial loss in enrollment and diminished state and local support, coupled with low campus employee morale. In response, the college team closed ranks…

Dana College (Dana.edu) was dying. A corporation was willing to buy it. However, Dana did not teach in the main, 21st century technical skills which is true of most little liberal arts colleges. Dana's demise first came in cuts for faculty in terms of benefits (Manghan, K. 1/16/2009). The entrance of the federal government was an attempt to stop a…

In autumn, most colleges' football fields are covered with a thick carpet of grass or artificial turf and are adorned with yard lines. But the football field at Paul Quinn College was carved up by plowing and planting. This past fall, portions of the college's gridiron were covered with sweet potatoes, watermelons, peppers, rosemary, and sugar…

Bob Monroig smiles every day on his way to work at Lake Washington Technical College (LWTC), high atop a hill overlooking the affluent Seattle suburb of Kirkland, Washington. He's created his own job within a job, where he's the Harley-Davidson University program coordinator and tenured faculty in the Motorcycle, Marine, & Power Equipment…

Kansas City (Missouri) Public Schools is at a crossroads. The district has struggled for decades with poor academic achievement, dwindling enrollment and budget, and short-term superintendents--27 in the past 40 years. Most recently, after a two-year stint during which he helped the district get its financial house in order, closing nearly half of…

Since independence in 1965, education and sport have been instrumental in Singapore's nation building, with a rapid rise in education and economic status. This article examines the roles of physical education and school sport in the local context and makes comparison with global themes ("instrumentality" and "marginality"). It…

Five years ago, few would have predicted that expenditures for public education would be at the same levels, or perhaps even lower, particularly with growing numbers of "at-risk" students, rising accountability benchmarks, and a nationwide challenge of aging buildings and infrastructure. Yet, in these grim economic times, quality classroom…

With local lumber mills shutting down, Robert Kenning, an instructor at Salish Kootenai College in western Montana, and the tribe's forestry director, came up with an idea. Kenning landed a $200,000 Department of Agriculture grant in 2010 to explore the possibility of turning logging scraps and smaller trees into chips or pellets that could be…

As the nation's economy began to sputter early last year, two areas proved resilient to the cutback in Americans' spending: luxury goods and college degrees. By the end of 2008, however, luxury stores had recorded the greatest decline in sales of any retail-chain category. Optimistic college presidents believe they will be spared a drastic…

Colleges survive sometimes because they are able to merge with another institution (a for-profit company, another private college, a state university). The change at the College of Charleston was shaped in the 1970s, when the college did not "merge" with a state institution--it "became" a state institution, which grew.. and…

As America moves toward the ideals of its founding documents, some scholars have termed it "postethnic America," where culture rather than color or ethnicity will have more influence over the country's affairs. In postethnic America, the country will realize that all "are created equal," and no groups will be treated…

Underperforming institutions frequently face financial and enrollment challenges, and/or lack a sense of direction and momentum. There is no single or easy approach to turning things around and putting the institution on track to positive development. In 1983, Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, faced declining enrollments, a growing…

Compares a 1970s-era Canadian high school's failure to sustain its innovative character with challenges faced by a similar, recently founded high school. Both schools experienced problems with leadership succession, staff recruitment and retention, expanding enrollments, district and policy context, and community support. Recommendations are…