Improving Student Achievement through Community Collaboration.

Building community collaboration and commitment for educating students in urban districts was the theme of the January 29-31, 1992, meeting of the Urban Superintendents' Network. Presentations and discussions focused on the political nature of education, Chapter 1 legislation, the use of educational technology, and educational standards and testing. This publication includes excerpts from the keynote address by Bernard Watson speaking on the urgent need for collaborative action in solving problems in education. Another article features an exchange about business/education collaboratives between Deputy Secretary of Education David Kearns and meeting participants. Harold Hodgkinson presented data on urban demographics. Concurrent sessions were held on four topics: education of children prenatally exposed to drugs; school/community/business collaboration; staff development and renewal; and school restructuring and reform. Excerpts from each district's response to these topics are dispersed throughout the issue in a series called "District Responses: Meeting the Challenge." (MLF)