Just as a compass orients a traveller, the OECD Learning Compass 2030 indicates the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values students need not just to weather the changes in our environment and in our daily lives, but to help shape the future. The Learning Compass 2030 is composed of seven elements: (1) core foundations; (2) transformative…

Since 2012, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has supported educational enrichment in rural areas by awarding over $3.3 million in grants to six outstanding organizations operating in Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In this report, the authors combine the experiences of these organizations with findings from the…

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has provided over $3.3 million in grants to outstanding providers of educational enrichment in rural areas since 2012. In extensive interviews, rural education experts in our grantee organizations shared their practical knowledge of the best ways to identify academically talented students in rural areas, provide…

Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAPs) have been identified as an intervention toward improving physical activity opportunities for youth throughout the school day. One of the five elements of a CSPAP is afterschool programming. This paper translates the varied research about youth engagement in physical activity into a…

The use of volunteers in special libraries is advocated in this report, which cites positive reasons for including volunteers among the library staff. (Bringing on volunteers during a budget crunch is not considered to be a positive reason.) The special library's relationship with the larger organization's volunteer department is mentioned as a…

Kirsten Cole, the Director of FUN (Family University) Afterschool Program at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus, shares her experience of working with children in an afterschool program where nightly community meetings address topics the children want to discuss. The topics change, but the underlying themes are often the same: issues of…

SAFARI (Student Assistance for At-Risk Individuals) is a nationally recognized, comprehensive K-12 program that addresses drug and alcohol use, sociological concerns, conflicts experienced by students, and at-risk behaviors interfering with academic success. Two neighboring Indiana school districts have combined resources to develop a program…

The Orange County (California) Human Relations Council exists to improve intergroup relations by enabling a representative group of school community members to work collaboratively toward creating and sustaining a safe, inclusive school climate that is respectful of society's diversity. The Council concentrates on training and encouraging…

Proof of academic performance often serves as the litmus test for maintaining instructional practices and programs. Just as the national focus on academic improvement has gained momentum, so too has another movement calling for character education. Educators find themselves caught in the middle, questioning whether character education is just…