Community organizing for school reform is a growing national phenomenon, as young people, parents, neighborhood residents, and faith-based institutions struggle to improve the quality and equity of public schooling, particularly in urban school districts. Now a decade old, community organizing projects are influencing local public schools in…

In response to requests for information from people and organizations all over the United States on how to contribute to the healthy development of young children, the Families and Work Institute has gathered concrete suggestions from leaders in diverse fields into this booklet of action tips. This effort was undertaken to support the "I Am Your…

Since its founding in 1983, The Jefferson Foundation has engaged increasing numbers of Americans in study and discussion of the U.S. Constitution. Through participation in Jefferson Meetings on the Constitution citizens will come to a fuller understanding of how the Constitution was made, why it designed the national government the way it did, and…

Guidelines and ideas for creating successful school/community projects are provided in this handbook. Organized like a cookbook, the book contains 43 chapters by individual contributors who take a community-based approach to education, in which the schools are the pivotal institutions of a community. The first section outlines the roles, or…

Describes guidelines issued by the Public Library Association which base evaluation of individual public libraries on community standards rather than national; identify eight basic roles of the library within the community; and provide a suggested process for libraries and communities to assess service needs and determine which activities to…

Because the outcome of education should be independence as well as a sense of accomplishment in serving others, educational objectives should consist of a demonstration of competence, the application of learning, creative responses, and the ability of one learner to teach the other. Educators need to reinforce examples of the work ethic and…

In view of the national attention that has recently been brought to public school improvement, a list of suggestions is presented in the form of leading questions to guide communities in assessing the quality of their local schools and in promoting beneficial change. The evaluative questions touch on a wide range of issues: school financing…

This module, which may be used as the basis for a workshop or as a special topic unit in adult basic education or English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses, discusses how and why to get involved in political and community life in the United States. Topics covered include the following: local political involvement, writing letters, reading the…

Despite strong agreement on the importance of parent involvement, most schools, districts, and states still need help in developing comprehensive programs of school, family, and community partnerships. This revised handbook translates lessons learned over 20 years of research and fieldwork into practical solutions for program development. The book…

Community service is a voluntary contribution to the commonweal that teaches valuable lessons about the responsibilities of citizenship in a free society. Vital services are provided through thousands of organizations created to meet needs not otherwise provided for by government. Participation in these community service projects help create a…

This manual is written for adults working in the schools to organize student governments. It is based on the experience of the Youth Action Program (YAP) of East Harlem (New York City) in organizing and developing student leadership. The manual is divided into 10 sections. "Student Government: Leadership and Purposes" explores the…

Considers the arguments advanced for an expansion of academic programs incorporating service learning. Briefly describes several programs in relation to the validity of these arguments. Suggests that geography could benefit from incorporating elements of service learning in order to enhance its treatment of ethical issues. (MJP)

This booklet offers a set of guidelines for developing a community-based coalition dedicated to improving the education of at-risk minority students. The guide offers and is organized around the following nine-step plan for the development and implementation of strategies to mobilize a community: (1) "the initiation: build core support"; (2)…

This document consists of a leader's guide that tells how to conduct a 1-day workshop and a workbook used by workshop participants to develop action plans to improve workplace literacy and the collaboration skills needed to implement those plans. It is intended that workshop participants should consist of 10-15 community members.) A memorandum in…

Maintains that community enterprise projects help students develop academic, personal, and transferable skills, while enabling underfunded not-for-profit groups to achieve some of their goals. Provides several examples of programs and suggests methods of improvement. (MJP)