Despite the key role that principals play in leading schoolwide change, districts' efforts to support principals are often limited, particularly in rural settings. In this article, we report the preliminary findings of a cross-district mentoring program for nine midcareer rural school principals. The collaboratively developed human resource…

This discussion summarizes comments made at the National Academy for Superintendents held at The Ohio State University focusing on changes practitioners have experienced in the area of school communication. The article examines how broad community themes, linking education to the entire community fabric, have resonated and better served the…

This article proposes a critical theoretical paradigm for the evaluation of university-community-school partnerships. Although numerous models have been posited for assessing these collaborative endeavors, few of them have granted adequate attention to the voices of community partners, and none have centered on systemic issues of power and…

The massive sex scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church raises a question as to whether Catholic identity remains an asset that the nation's 8,000 Catholic schools should continue to promote. This case study found that continuing to promote Catholic identity has had no adverse effect on recruitment and enrollment at four Omaha, Nebraska,…

In many reports, scholars describe parent involvement in schools by focusing on the influence parents have on their children's learning or on the educators' perspective of parent involvement (e.g., Norton, 2003). This article looks at the issue through a different lens. It focuses on the nature of parents and community engagement in schools that…

Since the "Brown" decision of 1954, American society has moved from a position of seeing no redeeming value in black culture to acknowledging that African Americans have rich cultures worth celebrating. This article reports the case of Malcolm Moor, an African American teacher who believes it is his responsibility and obligation to nurture…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" decision defined public education for African Americans in the United States. In this article I discuss the tradition of African American parental involvement in the pre-"Brown" era, challenges to parental involvement in a post-"Brown" era, and a parental involvement initiative in an urban elementary school. I…

The "Brown v. Board of Education" of 50 years ago was perhaps the most significant school reform implemented in American education. The goal of this landmark decision was to end public school segregation and introduce racially integrated schools. Now in the 21st century and clearly in the shadows of this decision, we argue that the hope and…

The number of African American teachers and principals in the nation's schools has declined precipitously since the legal decision rendered in "Brown v. Board of Education." In this article I explore the historical and contemporary reasons for the decline in the numbers of African American educators in U.S. public schools and relate the negative…

The professional discipline of strategic public relations offers many benefits to organizations. It helps them prevent and mitigate crises. It allows them to identify and manage issues that may interfere with their goals and objectives. It also leads them in building and maintaining quality relationships with strategic publics. However, can the…

This article addresses an important need--the dissemination of information relating to technology as a public relations tool--and the associated exigency for administrator and teacher technology training. Specifically, we identify the increased expectations for the performance of school leaders and teachers, as well as unresolved issues in public…

The purpose of this research was to ascertain teacher perceptions of and involvement in website development, maintenance, and appropriateness. One hundred two teachers responded to a web-based survey asking them about their school or district websites. The role of teachers in this endeavor appears appropriate but underutilized. Overall, teachers…