As an institution built on the foundation of a Normal School, collaboration among faculty members and across program areas and academic units has been part of Western Kentucky University's (WKU) heritage since 1906. In addition to the various collaborative initiatives across campus, there are a variety of initiatives that involve various agencies…

This article builds and explores the hypothesis that parent and community participation in school governance can have positive impacts on community development by fostering improvements in school performance and school-community relations and by acting as a catalyst for collective action around community-development issues. It does so through case…

Among the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act's innovations are Family Resource/Youth Service Centers (FRYSCs), which focus on the network supporting students and their families, rather than "fixing the kid." Parents are empowered to participate in their children's education, assisted by the larger community and outreach activities.…

In response to well-documented concerns over America's educational crisis, Kentucky initiated the nation's most sweeping set of educational reforms with the 1990 passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act. This report examines the accomplishments of these reform efforts since 1990 and makes recommendations for future action. Following an…

This paper describes Louisville, Kentucky's Community Accountability Team (CAT), which promoted parent and citizen involvement in school reform. It was unique to the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), a large, urban district, and represented a strategy in a rapidly building national movement to make education more transparent and accountable…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act overhauled the K-12 system of public education in the state. Finances, curriculum, and governance were radically changed. This article looks at the leaders putting the reforms in place, providing an inside look at what reform entails. (MLF)

School councils, a school-based decision making (SBDM) form of governance, are mandated for Kentucky public schools by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Commonly composed of the principal, three teachers, and two parents, the school council is designed to be a form of democratic or shared school governance. The missions of school councils…

Describes how local, within-school factors at two rural elementary schools located in different parts of Kentucky influenced efforts to achieve the mandated goals of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). Discusses the tension created by imposing generic reform measures on very different rural places. An appendix presents KERA goals.…

The systemic reform exemplified by the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) requires the coupling of top-down state mandates with bottom-up advocacy and leadership. This research on an Eastern Kentucky school district details the dynamics at the district's main high school, as people struggle to build both a community of learners within…

The Kentucky Family Resource Centers developed under the Kentucky Educational Reform Act are described as examples of the school-linked service movement. The lessons learned in the development of the centers and policy issues that need to be addressed by both education and social services to assure continued development of this movement are…

This dissertation examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down state mandates with bottom-up advocacy and…

This dissertation, which won the Dissertation of the Year Award, examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down…

A year-long ethnographic investigation examined how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform while resisting state priorities and policies mandated in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Contrasts KERA objectives with cultural themes prominent in this poor…

Forward in the Fifth is an organization created to improve the quality of education in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District, which had the lowest percentage of high school graduates in America. The organization has employed innovative ways to involve the whole community, resulting in widespread cooperation, as well as increased graduation rates…

Faced with mandated reforms of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, a mountain community grappled with the challenges of coupling top-down state mandates with bottom-up advocacy and engagement. A year of participant observation revealed six interrelated and paradoxical themes that emerged as these Appalachians created local ownership of…