In 2011, the directors of the Phoenix Symphony came up with a bold plan to improve and expand their community outreach programs. Inspired by the growing movement to integrate the arts with the other subjects in the K-12 curriculum, they created a thriving program called Mind Over Music, which pairs professional musicians with local elementary…

While the principal of a New York elementary school (P.S. 48) took on chronic absenteeism from 2011 to 2013, a research team at the Center for New York City Affairs followed her efforts. The school drove down chronic absenteeism almost 10 percentage points. School staff routinely touched base with students, outside "success mentors"…

The Kalamazoo Promise provides a scholarship for full tuition for any high school graduate from the district who's been accepted to attend a Michigan postsecondary institution. The Promise has changed the attitudes of the students, their parents, and the community and has combined with other efforts to promote successful reform and systemic change…

The Civil Rights Project was hired to identify barriers to equitable access in Buffalo (New York) Public Schools' criteria schools and propose solutions, which, if accepted by both parties, could resolve the civil rights violations and create more equitable access to those schools. The researchers found that students of color, low-income students,…

Culturally responsive parent-school relationships require educators to consider the cultural practices and understandings of families as a necessary condition of greater academic achievement. The establishment of healthy parent-school relationships is a complex and dynamic process. A school-community overlap, with a priority given to community…

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, created a prekindergarten program for at-risk children by bringing together the entire community. With donations and volunteer help, the city managed to fund 19 classrooms serving 275 children.

Getting more low-income and parents of color involved to a greater degree in their child's education seems to require some out of the box thinking. That's because even today most schools base such attempts on theories from the 1980s and 1990s that pre-date sophisticated research on parental involvement and are most applicable to white middle class…

Schools are discovering a wealth of experience and expertise available in their communities' senior populations. The graying of America guarantees older adults' continuing availability as a volunteer force. This article provides advice on developing intergenerational and outreach programs, stressing recruitment strategies and benefits of senior…

Chapter 1 programs across the country have taken significant steps toward building better communication with hard-to-reach families. Schools should adapt communication strategies to family needs, reach the intended audience, design inviting parent workshops, and make "good news" telephone calls. A sidebar features the McAllen, Texas,…

Parents in Touch, the umbrella program for parent involvement in the Indianapolis (Indiana) Public Schools, was established to facilitate the kind of two-way communication that enables parents to become partners in their children's education. The program uses various approaches, including parent/teacher conferences, a dial-a-teacher assistance…

In the family support movement, three themes are central: providing success for all children, serving the whole child, and sharing responsibility. The Institute for Responsive Education used these themes to develop a national project (Schools Reaching Out) designed to redefine and expand parent involvement as part of urban school reform. Includes…

In this article, the author states, that Montana's tribal colleges have always operated in accordance with the tenets of Indian Education for All (IEFA), and many include in their mission statements the advancement of their tribes' culture and traditions. The current challenge facing tribal colleges is to meet the demands of Montana's education…