Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

In late 1999, philanthropist Susie Buffett wanted to make the smartest possible investment to improve public education in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. She and her then-foundation president, Dan Pedersen, spoke with Superintendent John Mackiel regarding how he would choose to use private funds to enhance opportunities for Omaha's 46,000…

These four monographs on the education of the gifted and the talented were prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Monograph #1 addresses the questions of who the gifted and talented are and why they need special programs. Monograph #2 concerns staff involvement, and covers such topics as staff development, the role of the…

Father involvement enhances children's well-being. A growing body of research supports this conclusion, showing that children with involved fathers exhibit greater school readiness, increased cognitive development, higher levels of empathy, and other positive characteristics (Administration for Children and Families 2004a). Research also indicates…

The purpose of this booklet is to provide suggestions that may be helpful to local school communities as they create their own ways of involving parents in the school. It presents a planning model that identifies seven specific steps that might be taken by any community to fashion a model appropriate for that community. These steps suggest the…

This booklet was developed to assist agencies and groups in developing effective programs for single parents in rural areas. Most of the concepts also apply to urban and suburban settings, but rural parents carry the extra burden of great distances and geographic and social isolation. The handbook is organized in six sections. The first section…

This technical assistance manual describes school-based outreach strategies that involve parents in preparing youth with special needs for postschool jobs and independence. A model of preventive education is featured which stresses that postschool problems of unemployment and community adjustment can be anticipated and can, therefore, be treated…

A curriculum was developed and a model was tested to help tribal girls realize that they will be workers; plan realistically for their years as members of the labor force; make decisions in their teens that will help them prepare adequately for the world of work; and believe that they have special talents and abilities that are unique to them.…

Based on the practical training experience of sixteen school districts and two universities which comprise the Wisconsin Career Education Consortium, this report presents training strategies for a variety of community-school collaboration efforts. Eleven training strategies are presented: (1) providing an in-school visitation day for business…