An Idaho community worked together to build a performing arts building on school property. Students from the school, which had been using the Foxfire approach for several years, selected the site, did the surveying, and helped with the timber frame construction. The project fostered a renewed sense of community for a town suffering from declining…

School improvement literature emphasizes collaboration of teachers, parents, and community members. Schools are challenged to create mutually beneficial partnerships that result in improved student performance. One source of challenge is schools' organizational structures and processes do not contribute to full and meaningful involvement of…

The public has developed a powerful voice over the past two decades, calling for involvement in school decision making and creating the conditions for schools to pay attention to engaging the public in more meaningful ways. Lessons for all schools can be learned from charter school efforts to engage their public effectively. This article presents…

This "Call to Action" serves as a reminder that underage drinking has serious social costs and tragic consequences, demonstrating the importance of prevention. Underage alcohol use is not inevitable, and schools, parents, and other adults are not powerless to stop it. The latest research demonstrates a compelling need to address alcohol use early,…

The purpose of the Voluntary Public School Choice (VPSC) Program is to assist states and local school districts in the development of innovative strategies to expand options for students, and to encourage transfers of students from low-performing to higher-performing schools. This report presents interim findings from the National Evaluation of…

In 1997, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation created a national education initiative, ENLACE (pronounced en-LAH-say), ENgaging LAtino Communities for Education. Its goal is to increase access and success in higher education for Latino students and their families. The ENLACE approach described in this document starts with partnerships as the vehicle for…

In this case study, a co-operative inquiry process was used to facilitate the expansion of inclusive early childhood education and care practices in a rural community in the Midwest. A university and a community researcher first engaged in interviews and site visits, during which they learned how a three-member inclusion team of early care and…

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

The Yap Classroom Assessment Project is an attempt to introduce new methods of assessment, with an emphasis on performance assessment, into the practices of teachers in the Pacific, integrating the strengths of Yapese culture with children's education. The project, developed by the Pacific Region Educational Laboratory (PREL), concentrates on…

This packet includes reprints of journal articles and other resources concerning building a sense of community among staff and learners in small, rural schools. The four sections of the packet cover involving the community in education, establishing a learning community within the school, using the community as a resource for the classroom, and…

This paper describes The Talk to a Literacy Learner (TTALL) program, which was designed to introduce parents to a broad range of literacy practices, and to offer parents an effective way to talk with other parents about specific literacy practices that have helped empower their children to cope more effectively with the demands of schooling. The…

In the fall of 1989, President Bush and 50 state governors gathered to discuss why the American education system was failing. A major conclusion of the summit was that parents have a tremendous influence on their children's education. For change to occur in educational outcomes, parents must realize that the primary responsibility for their…

In Texas, public library advisory boards are a recent innovation that have developed as a result of the Council-Manager form of government. This handbook is a response to that development as a compilation of information on the most efficient roles and functions of advisory boards. An advisory board is appointed by the governing body of which the…

The Minnesota Department of Education has created a plan, "Unlearning Violence," to aid schools and communities in their efforts to create safe and nurturing environments for all the state's children. The goals and challenges of this plan were formulated with the involvement of over 600 citizens and an in-depth study of research related…