While Massachusetts has received accolades for its high scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, absolute results from standardized tests tend to correlate strongly with family income and parental education. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education…

The concept of and approach to service-learning across higher education has changed dramatically over the last two and a half decades. Historically, one of the primary goals of service-learning was to prepare undergraduate students to become engaged citizens and to introduce them to the challenges experienced by individuals from marginalized or…

This EPI Policy Perspectives covers a presentation given at the European University Association Annual Convention (March 20, 2009, in Prague, Czech Republic) that addresses the Bologna process in the European Union. The process raised many questions regarding the role of the university, and the entire tertiary/postsecondary system of education.…

ExpandED Schools (formerly TASC) has spent the past 17 years helping schools and community organizations find the right partners. This resource guide offers a guide to the strategic questions school teams might ask themselves and their potential partners to have the best outcomes for young people. The following attachment is included: School…

A change in political leadership typically signals a growth in organizing campaigns to find and endorse the candidate with ideas most similar to their own. However, what if instead of focusing on finding the best candidate, organizing groups decided to focus on the conversation? How would you then use an election to engage the members of the…

The ideal of community engagement suggests that both a student's career and his college's mission are (or ought to be) inextricable from the community in which they are embedded. That students, faculty, and academic institutions should serve community purposes, actively engage in community affairs, and network themselves in real and virtual…

There is increasing interest in making more effective use of schools as community hubs, both in Australia and internationally. Investment in shared facilities aims to engage parents and local communities in schooling, encourage civic participation, co-ordinate educational and community services and overcome disadvantages of location or service…

Evidence has emerged that the civic engagement movement in US higher education may not be fulfilling its transformative potential, having lost sight of its core democratic purposes. Civic engagement conceptualised only in terms of activity and place--programmes in communities--may be easily accommodated to prevailing technocratic practices. For…

School districts across the nation are reaching out to their communities in hopes of creating support for their programs. Toward that end, this article provides a rationale for and an overview of the elements of effective community engagement. The author outlines the need and analyzes the shift toward new approaches in community engagement. Next,…

What if, in 2020, a new generation of leaders ends the war in Iraq and turns its attention to pressing domestic issues eventually resulting in a healthier economy and renewed investments in the urban core? What if, in 2020, having tried and failed at the beginning of the 21st century to improve urban education with prescriptive, high stakes…

C. Wright Mills would be a friendly critic of service learning, acknowledging its benefits for providing students with experiential learning opportunities to connect personal troubles with social issues. Yet he would be critical of service-learning practices that perpetuate institutional power inequalities and that do not advance the social change…

In extracts from papers to be given at a conference of the Programme for Reform in Secondary Education (PRISE), this report suggests that schools have too narrow and static a concept of work. (Editor/RK)

The major thrust of the University-Urban Interface Program (UUIP) was to study the interface between Pittsburgh University and its urban community. Ultimate goals were to design ways in which relations between universities and their communities may be enriched. UUIP studied activities in five representative areas: Communications, Minority and…

This end-of-the-year report on the operations of the Educational Laboratory Theatre Project is divided into three sections. The first consists of historical accounts of the operation in Rhode Island, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. Among the subjects covered for each area are an overview of the project, vital statistics, press coverage, prospects…