Sara McAlister, in her article "Why Community Engagement Matters in School Turnaround," in this issue (p35-42) of "Voices in Urban Education," lays out the strong research base showing that family and community participation is a crucial resource not only for individual student achievement, but also for catalyzing and…

Increasing community involvement in out-of-school time programs can yield significant benefits to programs and the students that they serve. Community partnerships have the potential to meet a wide variety of needs, from improving participant recruitment and attendance to contributing volunteers or other resources to programs. This research brief…

Lists 20 ways to mine community resources for the benefit of the vocational education program. (SK)

Five patterns for restructuring through community education are (1) community involvement in educational decision making; (2) family support and education; (3) curriculum enhancement through community resources; (4) educational opportunities for children and adults; and (5) collaboration with community organizations. (SK)

Successful provision for the curriculum needs of students in small schools in the 1980s requires design, planning, hard work, and commitment, as well as administrative leadership, involvement of the board of education, staff participation, resources outside the district, and inservice activities. (SB)

Growing out of a meeting to explore alternative directions for community-based education in the Teacher Corps Program, the three papers in this document provide insight into how neighborhood involvement, the coordination and collaborative delivery of human services, and the utilization of political processes can be used to strengthen a community's…

During the 20th century, the involvement of communities in education has deteriorated, and the school and the community have evolved into separate worlds. This chapter describes ways in which a typical high school has increased its interactions with its own community. Those interactions have two dimensions: to bring the community into the school…

Argues that comprehensive arts education includes multiple art forms learning, skills development, critical analysis, historic context, and expression opportunities. Its future may be in partnerships between arts educators and arts institutions. Examines past and current partnership successes and concludes that partnerships can ensure future…

This monograph is devoted to the Association of Junior Leagues (AJL), which is involved in both community voluntarism in career education and promotion of the concept of voluntarism. (Membership is composed of young adult women.) It begins with a presentation of the basic nature of AJL aimed at providing initial insights into its potential for use…

This paper addresses the nature of educational reform and recommends strategies to better reflect the needs of rural schools and their communities. The furor over education reform is largely produced by those who stand to gain from it, including politicians who promote their own agendas and consultants, professors, and experts who make a good…

This paper outlines a process for rebuilding the educational partnership among schools, communities, and homes. The process is based on community education, which is both a philosophy of education and a model for the systematic development of community and educational partnerships. The process has four major components: (1) provision of diverse…

Discusses common themes in five papers on rural community psychology: myth that rural life is naturally supportive, importance of community needs in designing prevention programs, risks of labeling diseases, rural psychologists as developers/advocates, using advice/direct suggestion, thinking in systems/ecological terms, role/boundary conflicts,…

Maintains that Phillip Evergood's painting, "Sunny Side of the Street," is an appropriate metaphor for full inclusion of students in art education. Describes a model for collaboration among students, teachers, administrators, and community members to create an inclusive art education program. (CFR)

This document describes the industrial decline in a small Midwestern town and its effect on education and the local economy. While some people refused to see a problem, others saw that the decline would continue until the town school closed and community services dwindled. The paper calls for new solutions to rural education and economic problems,…

This document explores the application of the community education process to restructuring activities at both the state and local level. The monograph contains the following papers: "In the Forefront of Restructuring" (Larry Decker, Valerie Romney); "Building Learning Communities: Realities of Educational Restructuring" (Larry…