This critical reflection addresses the role of the Christian Church in tackling educational underachievement and poverty in the inner city. The Church has traditionally expressed a commitment to meeting the needs of the poor, and has exerted a significant influence on education over many years. However, there is a notable lack of guidance and…

Purpose: This paper aims to focus on the process of critically evaluating Dublin Institute of Technology's Programme for Students Learning With Communities after its first year of operation. The programme supports and promotes community-based learning/service-learning across DIT. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is presented in the form of a…

In economically challenging times, institutions of higher education are often forced to make cuts that would not be considered during times of prosperity. If one such decision is to eliminate the music degree, what factors might contribute to such a decision and what repercussions might be felt after it? How do faculty, administrators, alumni, and…

Background/Context: Parent involvement in education is widely recognized as important, yet it remains weak in many communities. One important reason for this weakness is that urban schools have grown increasingly isolated from the families and communities they serve. Many of the same neighborhoods with families who are disconnected from public…

Summarizes a study made to determine the causes of the escalating university-community tension across the nation. The study focused on campus form (the layout of campus buildings, the spatial distribution of campus activities, and the corresponding form of the surrounding community) as a factor in university-community tension. (Author/DN)

If readers want to improve ties with their local community, government, town, or civic groups, then this is the handbook to read. This guide focuses on how to conduct a community relations audit, develop a CR strategy, build a CR team, communicate more effectively with neighbors, and handle crises well. The handbook also includes a sample economic…

In the early 1970s neighborhood movements developed around the concept of community integrity. As institutions expanded, neighbors began to fight encroachment on their way of life. Three case studies involving disputes between expanding urban universities and their neighborhoods reveal similarities in the development and resolution of…

This study examined the relationship between a small rural school in northeast Georgia and its surrounding community. Three teachers, two community members, and three students used cameras to collect data related to their perceptions of the school-community relationship. They created photographs, then wrote about their photos, and finally, held…

Problems raised by a conflict between culture of the school and culture of the pupil's home community are brought into focus when looking at schooling for children from a culture which has no links into culture of the dominant group, and in fact rejects as "worthwhile activities" the very things that members of the dominant group regard…

This qualitative case study focuses on a district and community relations plan developed in Oklahoma City Public Schools. This article provides a description of the proposal regarding MAPS for KIDS (Metropolitan Area Projects for Keep Improving District Schools) in Oklahoma City from 1998 through November 2001, and it explores the coalitions that…

One of the results of rural school district consolidation has been the potential for schisms that develop among the divergent populations with distinct traditions, culture, and customs. This paper presents research on an Appalachian school district that remains in cultural turmoil after 25 years of consolidation. The population of the three…