This paper presents the process of conducting a community-wide needs assessment that initially focused on soliciting information about childcare needs of families with school-aged children. The researchers were interested in understanding whether the method designed to conduct the needs assessment helped to foster collaboration, trust, and…

Lack of adequate access to capital is a major barrier for rural entrepreneurs. Washington State University Extension and the Association of Washington Cities partnered to explore and test an innovative local investment approach that provides access to capital and engages the community in the success of individual businesses. The approach offers…

In 2010, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV), provided states with the opportunity to apply for funding to build and expand evidence-based home visiting programs in their states and to incorporate community collaboration components, referred to as early childhood comprehensive systems (ECCS). For Texas, this…

High-quality youth arts programs that take place outside the formal education system play a vital role in supporting the developmental needs and well-being of today's youth, particularly youth at risk of negative outcomes. Out-of-school time (OST) youth arts programs provide opportunities for youth to learn about themselves and their world while…

The Algebra Project DR K-12, funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research and Development Project, addressed the challenge of offering significant STEM content for students to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness. The project's primary purpose was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a model for establishing four-year…

Guiding Principles to Manage Scholarship Programs represents an overall approach to implementing scholarship programs so as to maximize the learning opportunities to students and families who receive scholarships. Thirteen guiding principles for girls' scholarship programs are described herein. They are: (1) Research is used to identify cultural…

The Duke Endowment launched its Child Abuse Prevention Initiative in 2002 by funding two program sites, the Durham Family Initiative in Durham, North Carolina, and Strong Communities in Greenville, South Carolina. Both sites aimed to reduce rates of child abuse, improve parenting practices and behaviors, strengthen community service systems, and…

In the study of the Technology Immersion model, high-need middle schools were "immersed" in technology by providing laptops for each teacher and student, instructional and learning resources, professional development, and technical and pedagogical support. This article reports third-year findings for the teacher component of the…

This paper examines the extent to which legitimacy affects program continuation, and focuses on the process by which programs attempt to maintain legitimate status through conformity with the larger environment. Legitimacy is defined as cultural support from a program's larger environment, such as the school district or community. An innovative…

School leaders desiring to evaluate their school-business partnerships should consider whether these partnerships are mutually beneficial to both parties, are directly related to school district mission or goals, clearly state each party's responsibilities, and include an evaluative design for measuring success in meeting agreed-upon objectives.…

Drawing on his long experience of Africa, the author discusses what needs to be done and what needs to be avoided to ensure that labor-intensive special public works programs yield tangible and lasting results. (Author)

This study investigates the impact of activities done in the basic education sub-sector by a consortium of four non-government organizations in four provinces in Afghanistan from January 2004 to June 2005. The evaluation uses the project objectives and components as the evaluation framework, and data collected through survey questionnaires,…

This paper describes some major issues facing federal and local administrators in their efforts to build local capacity in bilingual education through the Title VII grants program. The discussion is developed in three parts: (1) the legislative history of the capacity building mandate in Title VII and the federal statutory provisions shaping this…

Results of a regional meeting to assess the current situation of the Associated Schools Project and to develop strategies of action at the national level are presented in this report. Twelve observers from China and Thailand and 16 representatives from 10 countries participated in the meeting. Participating countries included Australia,…

The instructional staff at the Southeast Alternatives (SEA) program operated by the Minneapolis Public Schools were surveyed to determine their reaction to the SEA program. The two major objectives of the survey were to obtain staff opinion on issues concerning the program as well as progress toward achieving SEA major goals. The major findings of…