Integrated service centers have the potential to improve academic achievement in public schools. In this model, schools and community service agencies share spaces and programs and collaborate in planning. Issues of philosophy, organizational structure, management, responsibilities, and funding must be considered in their development. (SK)

Discusses the importance of competitions for gifted students and offers practical tips and techniques for utilizing competitions, not only to enhance talents, but also to nurture positive relationships between the school and community. Gives an example of a community's involvement in supporting competitions. (Author/CR)

Describes a college organization created to establish a partnership between Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty and students and neighborhood organizing groups. Reviews how faculty and student research skills are used to gather information for prospective projects, organization and actions taken as a result, and basic assumptions underlying the…

Discusses the relationship of scholarship to outreach in the college or university's engagement with community problems. Suggests use of four quality outreach dimensions: significance, attention to context, internal and external impact, and scholarship. Identifies tensions faculty involved in outreach may experience, such as maintaining clear,…

This article describes use of Resource Coordinating Teams (RCT) to: (1) integrate school-support programs and services for students with disabilities with one another and with community resources and (2) encourage services and programs to function in an increasingly cohesive way. Discussion identifies RCT issues concerning student patterns,…

Describes a collaborative project between Hunter College (New York) faculty, Lincoln Center Institute (New York), and teachers and administrators in East Harlem (New York) to examine ways to integrate the arts into the education of pre-service teachers. Collaboration partners met in seminars to discuss a specific work of art and its relevance in…

Outlines some of the administrative changes included in Temple University's move toward a more community-based education agenda and focuses on one case, Temple Health Connection (THC). THC is an on-site, community- and university-supported medical facility that serves as a locus for community health care, student learning, and faculty research.…

Offers insights gleaned from the 30-year history of outreach and engagement of the University of Nebraska's College of Public Affairs and Community Service. This interdisciplinary college, which promotes research and teaching partnerships with the Omaha community, is now helping its university be part of the community, not simply in it. (EV)

Projects based in the community give students the opportunity to engage in investigation as scientists and apply their work to make a difference at home. Community-based projects allow for easy implementation of high-end inquiry in the science classroom. When students become involved in research based in authentic community problems they gain a…

Environmental sustainability education, the dissemination of environmental education for sustainable development into the community, should be a lifelong process and not one restricted to a learner's years in higher education. Informal environmental sustainability education, including personal involvement in NGO environmental action, can be an…

The study describes how most current biological curricula fail to foster citizenry, how this failure is problematic for conservation, and offers one approach to address the problem. Local city planners and state Department of Fish and Game have proposed a marsh restoration project near the university to compare and contrast how wildlife would…

An urban American university, Georgia Institute of Technology, established a campus-community coalition to reduce high risk drinking, its harms and second-hand effects among university students and residents of the Atlanta community. The Atlanta-based institution was part of a ten-year, ten-university project, A Matter of Degree (AMOD),…

In this article, the author discusses how some educators are turning to service-learning projects for charitable activities--and helping to foster connections between students and the human beings they aim to serve. The author highlights a program called Kids Can Make a Difference, also known simply as KIDS, as an example of how to turn food…

As intergenerational service-learning becomes an increasingly popular means for providing gerontology and health professional students with "real-life" experience, it is essential to consider the importance of strong community partnerships. Drawing upon a range of intergenerational service-learning experiences from two programs at…

This article describes a task-based writing project. High-school students in Zambia wrote a proposal to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in their community. By writing on a topic related to their lives, students were motivated and empowered to use their English skills for positive change. The project was an interactive workshop that invited a community…