This study provides an overview of the literature of Florida's only Community Partnership Schools™ model, as a strategy to enhance family and community engagement in low performing high poverty elementary schools. More specifically, the focus of this study was to determine to what degree parents perceived the effectiveness of family and community…

Critical race pedagogues and culturally responsive educators advocate for greater emphasis on the voices of Students of Color that invoke their lived experiences, cultural knowledge, ancestral wisdom, and supportive familial relationships. However, few educators have adequately described how to bring these stories directly into K-12 classrooms.…

The purpose of this study was to determine if an experimental Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) based alternative discipline policy paired with a community-school partnership, effects suspended students' subsequent suspension incidents. Data were collected from four Midwestern school districts participating in an experimental Alternative to Out…

This study, framed by Kolb's experiential learning theory, explored the intentions, perceptions, and understanding of graduate faculty and staff on community engagement. Questions have arisen as to whether students with advanced degrees are entering the job market with sought-after skills. In response, universities have continued to seek program…

The goals of University-Community Partnerships (UCPs) are often not fully achieved due to limited financial or human resource commitments, a change in leadership, or different/changing priorities (Bortolin, 2011; Bushouse, 2005; Dempsey, 2010). Often, the differences in culture, decision-making and adaptation preferences of the participating…

The school-based elementary mentor program in this study paired community members with students in a one-hour, once weekly developmental program that focused on building relationships through conversation, crafts, games, and trips. This quantitative study with a purposeful sample (n = 30) examined the social, emotional, and academic impact of…

This study was a narrative inquiry that investigated middle school students' experiences with an informal writing group. The six primary participants were members of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMO). During the month of November, each of the primary participants set a word count goal and composed a novel. Participants met together at group…

This study examines how a grassroots educational enrichment program in a small urban economically depressed area builds and uses civic capacity. Using qualitative data collected through a case study of the Legacy Academic Enrichment program in Middletown, Ohio, I identify factors that make Legacy sustainable and successful in a community that has…

The ideal school is a safe school. In recent years, the ability of K-12 school districts to mitigate, prepare, protect, respond, and recover from emergencies has gained national attention as a wide variety of manmade and non-manmade disasters have impacted school systems in the United States. An increased emphasis has been placed on how schools…

Community Partnership Schools™ are designed to serve as a positive resource center in their community, staffed with dedicated professionals committed to student success and community well-being (Coalition for Community Schools, n.d.; Ellis, 2016). Following the education model created at the University of Central Florida (UCF), the first…

This case study of one comprehensive university's economic-development engagement in its region was designed to better understand perceptions and actions by higher education leaders and economic development professionals. Findings indicated that one regional comprehensive university was an effective economic development partner because its leaders…

This case study investigates the implementation of a unique community-driven mentoring pilot program (PASOS[superscript 2]) forging stronger community and K-12 partnerships. Focused on surfacing what matters most in engaging community mentors, this case study explores a civic organization's quest to impact, expand, and bring value via mentoring to…

Service-learning, as a pedagogical technique, presents unique learning opportunities for students, where they get to use their skills and knowledge from courses to help improve communities that have particular needs. Barry University has recently begun to expand it program across the school, reaching into disciplines that are not often associated…

College reading programs are traditionally remedial or developmental in nature and often take a decontextualized skills based approach to reading and to supporting college readers (Holschuh & Paulson, 2013). Skills oriented deficit-based approaches to reading provide deficit-based frameworks for readers to construct self-perceptions. TLS 239…

The focus of this research is to provide a framework for community colleges and community-based organizations to partner in a manner that improves student outcomes in persistence and graduation rates. The proposed framework encourages digital student engagement that assists students with their non-academic needs, such as hunger or homelessness.…