A study was conducted to identify the factors that secondary and postsecondary vocational education administrators use as the basis for their decisions to add, terminate, or modify their programs. Data were collected through a telephone survey of 115 secondary and postsecondary administrators and by face-to-face interviews with an additional 25…

A questionnaire survey of 180 Texas school district superintendents sought to determine both their perceptions of how community power structures influenced school board decisions and their techniques for communicating with their local power structure. The study analyzed four power structure types--monopolistic, multigroup noncompetitive,…

This report provides abridged versions of participants' statements, panel discussions, and lectures given at the International Seminar on Childhood, Culture and Community held at Haifa, Israel, from June 17 to June 27, 1979. The interrelationship between childhood, culture, and community was the topic of the introductory lecture. Basic needs that…

SOME 138 ARTICLES, RESEARCH REPORTS, AND UNPUBLISHED ITEMS, DATING FROM 1953 TO 1966, CONTRIBUTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A RATIONALE FOR A MAJOR STUDY OF PROBLEMS FACING PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS. BRIEF REVIEWS COORDINATE THE MATERIAL UNDER SIX MAIN HEADINGS--(1) EDUCATIONAL CHANGE, (2) NEGOTIATIONS AND TEACHER MILITANCY, (3) ASPECTS OF…

In this paper, selected evidence on the effects of Japanese schools is presented. The author believes that Japan is one modern society where the schools have fostered individual and social development. The primary focus is on the effects for individuals in the area of cognitive skills, motivation, educational and occupational attainments, and…

This paper, the third based on a 4-year sociological field study of school-community relations in a factional suburb, analyzes conflict generated by the discrepancy between the perceived and actual norms governing the school board-community relationship. A 3-year effort to develop board responsiveness followed a 7-year period of professional…

Describes the development of the desegregation plan of the Prince Georges County Public Schools (Maryland), the provisions of the court order used to implement that plan, and the roles of magnet and one-race schools in the program. Implies that suburban communities have greater control over successful school improvement. (FMW)

Discusses the young child's home-community links and less strong school-community links. Examines reasons for schools becoming isolated from their communities. Emphasizes importance of teachers finding ways to relate child's learning to the community and finding ways to let parents share in their children's learning at school. (LFL)

This paper examines pregnancy in early adolescence, among West Virginia females aged 10-14, as it relates to local economic and social contexts. Although research on adolescent pregnancy is substantial, it is generally limited to the experiences of older adolescents and premised on assumptions of methodological individualism--that the correlates…

Describes health problems in Nigeria and the kinds of health education programs and methods that are needed to promote proper health practices in view of the high illiteracy rate, various perception levels, and the strong and often harmful traditional cultural influences in the community. (MF)

Documents the higher educational and professional attainment of black and white students from two segregated, one-room schools in rural Virginia in the 1930s-40s. Data from life histories and interviews indicated that black students' inferior educational opportunities were offset somewhat by the values of their immediate community. Community…

This paper describes the development of Spanish-language proficiency in bilingual preservice teachers at a university on the Texas--Mexico border. A survey with open-ended questions was administered to preservice teachers in bilingual and English as a Second Language certification programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the paths…

A student teacher who was concerned about a third grader's difficulties with her assignments, apparent low self-esteem, and anger observed the child in school for a 6-week period on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 2 hours each day. For 2 weeks, the child was also observed at a recreational center on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for an…

This paper examines issues of academic freedom and the community's role in a review of public and legal events leading to the court's striking down of the 1940 appointment of Bertrand Russell to teach at the City College of New York. Russell was to teach three philosophy courses relating logic, mathematics, and science to philosophy. Episcopal…

Volume 2 of the "Neighborhood Poverty" series incorporates empirical data on neighborhood poverty into discussions of policy and program development. The chapters are: (1) "Ecological Perspectives on the Neighborhood Context of Urban Poverty: Past and Present" (Robert J. Sampson and Jeffrey D. Morenoff); (2) "The Influence of Neighborhoods on…