Deals with the relationship between school and community youth music ensembles. Critically considers MENC's "Guidelines for School and Community Youth Music Ensembles", published in the February 1976 issue of MEJ (EJ 140 802). (Editor/RK)

Describes a federally funded substance abuse prevention project that focused on resilience development in Puerto Rican adolescents in a New England community. Cultural pride played an instrumental role in youths discovering their strengths while helping themselves and their families and community. Discusses goals, peer teaching, community service,…

The use of nonparametric quartile regression in examining the impacts of social programs on the distributions of noncategorical outcome measures is demonstrated through the study of earnings effects and income effects in four evaluations of training and employment programs for welfare recipients. Distributional impact estimates yield estimates…

Attitudes of 340 staff members in 120 community living programs for people with mental retardation, mental illness, and dual diagnosis were assessed using the Community Living Attitudes Scale, a measure of attitudes toward inclusion. Findings identified attitudinal differences toward inclusion between managers and staff and between those working…

Illustrates the contribution that the Student Case Competition of the Canadian Evaluation Society can make to agencies with evaluation needs by describing the experience of an addiction and family services program whose gambling addiction treatment program used as the case in the qualifying round of the 1998 competition. (SLD)

Explains a study in which male drama students, several of whom had behavioral difficulties, engaged in creating two scenes for a community play. Concludes that the play was a catalyst for significant growth in the boys, who valued highly the opportunity to share ownership of the content. Notes certain elements of the creative process need to be…

Adaptive and challenging behavior changes associated with movement from Minnesota's state institutions to community homes were examined in 148 participants with mental retardation. Adaptive behavior declined among residents who moved to community programs but was unchanged for persons who moved to Home and Community Based Services Waiver-Funded…

Indices of family contact were reviewed across four cohorts of persons with mental retardation (n=151) who were transferred from a large public institution to small supported living arrangements. Family contact increased subsequent to community placement and these increased levels of contact were maintained for as long as four years. (Contains…

In Las Milpas, a south Texas colonia, 39 children aged 7-12 participated for at least 6 months in an after-school health promotion program that included activities related to communication skills, behavior self-management, and cultural appreciation. Compared to a nonparticipant control group, participating children had higher self-esteem and more…

A national survey uncovered 105 (of a sample of 600) projects that met criteria defining local self-development. The activities produced a variety of jobs for local residents. Costs and availability of credit were major obstacles. Local business/industry development projects tended to produce the most jobs at the least cost. (SK)

Maintains that early childhood professionals in Australia and elsewhere need to: (1) consider their roles in a dynamic community with an uncertain future; (2) make known the purpose of early childhood services; and (3) meet the needs of young children and their families. (BB)

Integrating infants with visual impairments into playgroups for nonhandicapped infants and their parents has been successfully accomplished and offers benefits to both infants and parents. A model demonstration project, "Parents and Visually Impaired Infants Project," integrated infants into a community program involving play, music, and…

A quality-of-life index proposed as an outcome and criterion measure for goodness-of-fit between persons and their environments was tested on data from 685 Nebraska community-based mental retardation programs. Administrative and programmatic uses of the information are discussed. (Author/MSE)

A case study of the Arthritis Self-Care Project, a rural community intervention in Virginia, demonstrates the importance of process evaluation in determining the actual independent variable. Instances of reinvention uncovered by the study are explored, and suggestions are provided for dealing with the reinvention inevitable in field research. (TJH)

Discusses the Young Authors Program, a program sponsored by the Greater Boston Reading Council, which encourages teachers to help students create original illustrated bound books. (MM)