This Playbook provides steps in which workforce development boards (WDBs) can blur the lines between high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce. WDBs can play a significant role to Raise the Bar for student success by developing an "education-to-workforce system" focusing on Unlocking Career Success. The three steps detailed…

Community engagement in the classroom can take several forms such as engaged scholarship, service learning, and philanthropy. Each of these activities connects course material with the immediate community, creating a multi-directional discourse. In this article we explain and provide a program evaluation of the Student Philanthropy and Community…

A persistent issue in Australia, and globally, is how to improve participation rates in higher education for students from regional and rural areas. In this paper, we tackle this challenge by exploring the idea of a Community Embedded University (CEU). We draw on empirical data from three participatory co-design workshops with university students…

This paper illustrates the approach of co-creating education where co-creation was an important aspect of the curriculum design. It makes a case for prison-university partnerships through two pedagogical case studies -- one within a prison setting with a focus on soft skills acquisition and another in a Higher Education setting focusing on…

Community-based learning (CBL), also known as service learning (SL), provides students with an active and meaningful learning environment and has been studied in STEM courses for several decades. Chemistry for the Community is a novel chemistry curriculum that weaves service-learning projects throughout multiple courses, including gateway courses,…

Nearly one quarter of all youth with disabilities attend rural schools. Supporting the successful postschool transitions of these youth can be a complex and challenging endeavor. In this study, we used "community conversation" events as a methodology for identifying the practices and partnerships needed to improve transition outcomes for…

With the recent approval of the Second Chance Pell Program and a proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, a shift is occurring in favor of expanding educational opportunities to incarcerated adults. As reform to the criminal justice system becomes a focus, there is an immediate need to study the dynamic relationship between community…

Knowledge exchange, also called knowledge translation, mobilization, or transfer, increasingly factors in university strategic plans and funding agency mandates. The growing emphasis on research that includes community engagement and making research knowledge more accessible and useful for nonacademic constituents often brings in knowledge…

In an increasingly competitive market, the onerous is on departments to ensure that students build targeted skills. Nevertheless, in an ever more polarized and politicized world, it is unwise to trade off engaging in social justice for a checklist of abilities. Community-based and service-learning offer the unique opportunity for students to hone…

Most educators believe that social and emotional learning (SEL) skills are a fundamental part of good teaching and learning. Long before the pandemic, surveys showed that teachers believed these skills were essential for students to learn at school, and research confirmed that they are linked with measures of academic success. Educators need…

Community-based learning (CBL) is a mutually beneficial partnership involving higher education institutions (HEIs), students, faculty, and the community. It provides students with the opportunity to apply academic concepts to real-life situations and community organizations with the opportunity to gain insights from evidence-based theories and…

This playbook provides ways in which city and county leaders and their teams can blur the lines between high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce. City and county leaders can play a significant role to raise the bar for student success by developing an "education-to-workforce system" that focuses on unlocking career…

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) educators are often tasked with teaching financial literacy to high school students. Many states have adopted financial literacy as a high school graduation course requirement. However, the need for financial literacy does not end in high school. Many parents could benefit from additional financial literacy…

Research has demonstrated that systemic transphobia and cissexism harms transgender youth in terms of social, educational, and health outcomes. All too often, research and policy emphasizes vulnerability among trans youth in a way that denies their capabilities as agents of change or active participants in their liberation. This article analyzes…

This paper presents the results of two community and citizen science research projects -- "Cities at Play" and "Community Drive" -- in which young students (aged 11-15) from vulnerable residential areas in Copenhagen, Denmark, collaborated with architects and urban developers to engage in urban development initiatives in their…