Border Crossings: Collaboration Struggles in Education

In this article, a qualitative program evaluation of a state-funded educational renewal effort between a university and a local school district is reported. The collaborative venture illuminated some of the dilemmas, paradoxes, and solutions inherent in reforming American education. More important, this venture revealed the complexities inherent in the ever-popular desire for collaboration between higher education and other culturally distinct organizations (e.g., local school districts). Works by W. G. Tierney (1993) and H. Giroux (1992) are the theoretical anchors for the analysis of this case study. A primary conclusion is that educators who are interested in reform must not only encourage border crossings but they must also provide the border “crossers” with the technical, political, and cultural frameworks to support these efforts.