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Pub Date: |
2003-06-00 |
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Reports - Research |
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Descriptors:
American Indian Education; Black Education; Case Studies; College School Cooperation; Community Development; Cultural Maintenance; Disadvantaged Youth; Educational Change; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Hispanic Americans; Partnerships in Education; Place Based Education; Rural Education; Rural Schools; School Community Relationship; Student Motivation
Abstract:
Six case studies examine the connections between higher education institutions and schools that have chosen place-based education as a framework for student learning and community growth. Through such partnerships, Lubec (Maine) high school has established a vocational aquaculture program in an effort to revitalize the struggling local fishing economy. Five rural Mississippi Delta school districts are raising academic skills and cultural pride through the writing process. The Navajo Nation is reclaiming its culture and developing and retaining native Navajo language-speaking teachers. Hispanic communities in northern New Mexico are focusing on water use and conservation. Twenty-nine school districts in Virginia and Kentucky are engaging students in media projects that address issues confronting central Appalachia. In Missouri, 10-15 rural school districts are working to increase teacher supply and retention. Findings indicate that the engagement of higher education institutions is usually limited to one or two impassioned faculty members in one or two departments or in a separately-created entity in the university. Place-based learning provides a focused and structured means for higher education institutions to impact the lives of vulnerable youth. Place-based learning can engage vulnerable youth in rigorous academics and increase their civic consciousness and participation. While university engagement with communities changes some faculty members' lives, institutional change is harder to effect. Community engagement appears easier for community colleges than universities. Recommendations for enabling institutional engagement are presented. (TD)
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Pub Date: |
2003-00-00 |
Pub Type(s): |
Opinion Papers |
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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Black Education; Disproportionate Representation; Diversity (Student); Educational Equity (Finance); Educational Quality; Elementary Secondary Education; Equal Education; Minority Groups; Poverty; Racial Differences; Rural Population; Rural Schools; Small Schools; Socioeconomic Influences
Abstract:
Twenty percent of the children enrolled in rural and small-town schools are non-Caucasian, children of color. As in nonrural schools, rural schools have yet to close the achievement gap across various racial and economic subgroups of this diverse population. Overall, rural students perform as well as or better than their nonrural peers on standardized achievement tests. However, the gap between White and non-White student performance levels is persistent, widening in the 1990s. Socioeconomic status is the strongest correlate of standardized test scores, and rural poverty rates are highest in areas with large concentrations of people of color--the deep South, Southwest, and American Indian reservations. Examples demonstrate correlations between academic performance and both parental educational attainment and student eligibility for free and reduced-priced lunch. Small schools have been shown to mitigate the influence of poverty on academic achievement, but in many places, small community schools also may be linked to school segregation. Equity issues affecting the achievement gap include overrepresentation of minority-group students in school suspensions and expulsions, nonacademic "tracks," and special education; their underrepresentation in gifted programs and advanced courses; inequitable funding of poor rural schools serving children of color; and the poorer teacher quality in such schools. Three examples depict rural districts where place-based, culturally relevant curricula have raised academic achievement by connecting schools to their Latino, Native, or African American communities. (Contains 20 references) (SV)
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Pub Date: |
2003-01-07 |
Pub Type(s): |
Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers |
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Descriptors:
Academic Achievement; Achievement Gains; Black Education; Educational Practices; Elementary Education; Elementary Schools; House Plan; Institutional Autonomy; Institutional Characteristics; School Effectiveness; Small Schools
Abstract:
Between 1997 and 2001, an elementary school on the south side of Chicago was reorganized to improve student achievement. By 2000, students at one small school (referred to as CASE) showed achievement gains, while students at other small schools within the host site did not. Teachers at CASE could not account for its success. During 2000-2001 a research project investigated whether CASE exhibited the distinctive characteristics associated with success in the small-schools literature. Project participants included four teachers of grades 4 and 5. The teachers and almost all their students were African Americans. Approximately 88 percent of the student body was low-income. Findings indicate that CASE exhibited varying degrees of eight success factors identified in the literature: (1) flexibility in student assessment; (2) autonomy in content, geared to student needs; (3) autonomy in context, allowing participative decision making by teachers; (4) choice or voluntary involvement by teachers and parents; (5) appropriate organizational structure and size; (6) parent and community involvement and commitment; (7) vision- or mission-driven work; and (8) other ecological factors specific to this school, such as teacher collaboration. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/SV)
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