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The teaching of mathematics, which arguably is so abstract as to transcend place and community and even culture (according at least to a Platonic view of mathematics), will seem to some observers particularly ill-suited to instruction in place- or community- or culture-based approaches. Nevertheless, current thinking in mathematics education, with its emphasis on the construction of meaning and the application of problem solving to "real-world" situations, might logically be interpreted as supporting these varied approaches to instruction. Because both rural education and math education scholars collaborated in conducting this study, the project did indeed have its eye as much on the "community purposes of mathematics instruction" as on the "mathematical purposes of community engagement". The related complexities are legion--and, the authors find, them interesting. This report begins by stating the study questions quite simply (then in a very wide context, and then, before turning to the reports of the seven sites studied, carefully distinguishing "place-based education" from its close, and valued, cousins. The beginning of the report, then, provides theoretical frameworks necessary for readers to understand the intentions and purposes of the study. The empirical work is objectively conducted on such a basis. (Contains 5 figures, 7 tables and 26 footnotes.)

This paper proposes a mathematical model that delineates a feasible system of bus transportation for this multiple-school district. The model is composed of six elementary school districts which are part of the overall middle school and high school district. This proposal attempts to show Laurel district busing as a representative sample of what needs to be done in all six elementary districts. Final transportation routes from all six districts to the centrally located county Middle and High Schools are included and explained. Both elementary district and entire county algorithms are included. First, the population distribution was analyzed and bus stops were created for the sample Laurel district such that the average number of children per stop is maximized and each child walks no more than a predetermined distance. Next, the bus stops were grouped geographically into regions of roughly equivalent number of students, and the viable routes for each region were determined. Finally, these routes were sequenced by the implementation of the NCL (No Child Left at Bus Stop) algorithm created for the Madison County Schools. The algorithm has been created so that changes can be made to accommodate adjustments in parent and school board decisions.