This report discusses low-performing school districts identified by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). It is based on a 5-year contract in which SEDL tried to transform low-performing schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas into high-performing learning communities. The first part of the paper…

This volume, the last of a six-part report, is a guide that provides an overview to the Building Villages series. It discusses the need for comprehensive programs, and examines the corresponding need for change in the family-services framework. It sets forth the organizing principles of family support as the movement grows from a program to a…

This guide, Part 2 of a 6-volume guide, is designed to assist program managers in maintaining comprehensive family-support programs through creative funding. It stresses building a portfolio of resources to serve the families within the communities. It also examines the general principles of financing strategy, potential funding sources, tips on…

This guide, volume four of a six-part series, describes several community-outreach methods and provides practical outreach suggestions that are based on experience, as well as typical problems and the ways practitioners have chosen to resolve them. The guide is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on recruitment. Specific topics cover ways of…