Focused on the practical tools that education leaders can use to improve communications with their own colleagues, with parents, and with the general public, this guide can be used by school districts and states to organize their communication efforts strategically to build public support. The guide includes step-by-step information to develop a…

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…

A growing number of charter schools are being designed, launched, and operated by community-based nonprofit organizations (CBOs). This resource guide is intended to target a priority technical assistance need: creating and sustaining a healthy relationship between a new charter school and a founding community organization, leading to the creation…

This manual, developed by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, is intended to help concerned community members make school health education a reality. It provides suggestions on how to get people organized to take the right steps. The manual's suggestions are based on three statements. First, health education means teaching people…

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 handbook describes the roles that parents, tribal governments, law enforcement personnel, courts, schools, and health care and social service providers play in alcohol and substance abuse intervention and prevention in Indian communities. It explains the legal responsibilities each group has and actions community members should expect the…

This brochure provides several tips for families and for community members to help them encourage student achievement and success. The tips are grouped into three categories: (1) "Help our children read well and independently by the end of third grade"; (2) "Help our children learn to meet high math and science standards and take challenging math…

This Spanish-language brochure provides several tips for families and for community members to help them encourage student achievement and success. The tips are grouped into three categories: (1) "Help our children read well and independently by the end of third grade"; (2) "Help our children learn to meet high math and science standards and take…

Changing population patterns, inflated housing costs, and cuts in school financing have forced many school districts to face school closures and school consolidation as a way of maintaining solvency. This report reviews the literature on school consolidation with attention to the fact that the need to consolidate now faces elementary schools as…

This manual is designed to assist facilitators working with members of a school community in forming or strengthening partnerships that will promote greater success for their youth. Participants can identify characteristics that are most important for youth to be successful in their community, consider ways to determine that students are…

Using the school-community council as a vehicle, this manual leads school staffs, parents, community representatives, and school council members step-by-step through suggested tasks to strengthen schools and to help restore confidence in the public school system. Chapter 1, "Schools and Communities Working Together: A Rationale," defines…