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…

In this document various aspects of community response to school desegregation are considered. General themes presented are the role of the community in the integration process as well as some ways in which the process can be facilitated by purposeful organization. A Checklist for Assessing School Desegregation Plans serves as an instrument…

It is the purpose of the present report to alert community organizers, school officials, and scholars to their mutual interest in securing community involvement in the planning and execution of bilingual programs. Strategies are proposed for bilingual communities to follow when confronted with mandated bilingual education. The proposed process is…

IN CALIFORNIA, THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT IS TWO YEARS BEHIND THE NEGRO STUDENT AND THREE AND A HALF YEARS BEHIND THE ANGLO-AMERICAN IN SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT. SINCE HE REPRESENTS TWO DISTINCT AND OFTEN DIVERGENT CULTURES, ENGLISH-SPEAKING, MIDDLE-CLASS ORIENTED SCHOOLS MAKE ASSIMILATION VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE. A HEAD START AND A FOLLOW THROUGH…

This document reports on Phase II of a major project designed to study how school systems respond to the educational needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged. The report presents the Local Community Control model as the most effective means to change the school board's typical non responsiveness to the needs of the educationally…

By using the deductive or the inductive approach to needs assessment, or a combination of both approaches, school administrators can allocate physical or human resources in accordance with community priorities. (DCS)

This paper describes the Helping Our Teachers (HOT) Program, a community volunteer program started in the fall of 2000 at Julia P. Bryant Elementary School in Statesboro, Georgia. The purpose of the program is to formally organize all parent volunteers to help teachers and staff with school-related activities previously shouldered by…

This paper discusses some of the ways in which "low participation" in a Central American adult literacy project, often attributed by planners to "barriers" to or "lack of motivation" for literacy, revealed through ethnographic fieldwork a complex story of resistance and co-option. People engaged with literacy and the…

It is nearly impossible for one individual or a small committee to understand the complex needs of an entire school system and its community. Only by partnering with local business and community leaders, parents, teachers and third-party experts can local boards of education and school administrators grasp the unique needs of their community. Only…

A renewed call from national and state governments to strengthen connections between public schools and their communities invites people outside of the school system to play an active role in the decision-making process. Despite recent efforts to connect public schools and their communities, the two parties remain disconnected. This paper reflects…

Illinois School District 151 is the first Northern court ordered desegregated school system. Prior studies indicate that community members do not support the district. This Title III project has as its major goal to increase the areas of support and reduce the areas of nonsupport, in order to provide an invigorating stimulating educational…

This paper presents a case-study of the successful nine-month plan with which Tulane University guaranteed the growth and continuation of its Italian program. The paper provides a blueprint for the teacher of Italian on any campus who wishes to strengthen the position of his Italian program in this era when dwindling federal, state and university…

Discussed are some decision-making influences on the attitudes of New York City parents toward school decentralization. The Mass Media Committee of the Center for Urban Education maintains a representative panel of parents from whom information about communication experiences and responses to educational issues can be gathered. Telephone…

An ambitious school and community drug education program won community support after the appearance of a controversial school newspaper article featuring an anonymous interview with a drug pusher drew national attention to the problem of drug abuse in the community and schools. (DCS)

By focusing on the entire community as stakeholders in the public schools, the school board, the superintendent, and principals are forced to identify and cultivate the diverse groups in the community. Eight essential steps to developing an effective stakeholder management strategy are listed. (Author/DCS)