This paper describes a two-year full partnership between special education teacher educators from five regional institutions of higher education and six school districts. The purposes of the partnership are identified and include working collaboratively to address and improve services to learners with special needs and to respond to the problems…

In 1993, the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), in the Dominican Republic, and New York's LaGuardia Community College (LaGCC) entered into a partnership to establish a series of community colleges in the Dominican Republic. The colleges were designed to foster economic growth, prepare graduates for transfer to the UASD to complete…

An analysis of a number of university-school collaborative efforts in the United States and Canada to establish professional development schools, and of action research efforts in the United Kingdom, has shown that the partnership efforts studied devote significantly less attention to ideas about the nature of learning, teaching, schools, and…

This newsletter theme issue describes a state-local team partnership model for interagency transition efforts for young adults with deaf-blindness. Excepts from a presentation by Jane M. Everson identify key aspects and characteristics of effective state and local interagency partnerships. These include: (1) strategies for initiating and…

This paper looks at six mentoring programs in Wisconsin for beginning teachers. Four of the programs (Beloit, Kenosha, Plattesville, and West Allis-West Milwaukee) are district programs in which teachers assume mentoring responsibilities in addition to teaching. In the Milwaukee School District program, veteran teachers serve as full-time mentors,…

Pennsylvania's proposed Charter Schools Act, House Bill (H.B.) 1834, allows charter schools to be approved by local school boards or school district voters. This report describes the mission, functions, capabilities, and plans of a potential nonprofit Technical Assistance Activity (TAA) for charter-school applicants under H.B. 1834. The report…

Establishing and maintaining effective partnerships with families and members of the community are among the most challenging tasks facing educators today. This book explores why these partnerships are difficult to create and how they can be established. The book attempts to help educators understand that they have little control over changing the…

This paper outlines staff development programs offered by the teacher education faculty at Cardinal Stritch College (Wisconsin) to 26 districts from CESA 7 over 5 years. More than 850 administrators, staff, parents, board members, teachers, and students have participated. After assessing district and school needs through ongoing evaluation,…

This document reports on a collaboration between Webster University (Missouri) and Pattonville School District (Missouri) to develop a Professional Development School (PDS) Partnership. The goals of the partnership centered around student learning and reflected five themes: cultural diversity, technology to support learning, constructivist…

This document describes the accomplishments of the Iowa Distance Education Alliance (IDEA). The Iowa Distance Education Alliance (IDEA) is a partnership involving educational institutions across Iowa that received funding from the federal Star Schools Program to demonstrate the use of the Iowa Communication Network's (ICN) fiber optic technology…

School-to-work programs in postsecondary education have the potential to help young people find their first full-time jobs and acquire a capacity for learning while they work. Data show cooperative education students' wages are neither higher nor lower than those of non-co-op students. However, one evaluation has found the following: co-op…

This document provides an overview of service learning (SL) and shows how teachers can incorporate SL into elementary, middle, and high school curricula. First, SL is differentiated from community service and volunteerism. The four basic elements of SL (preparation, service, reflection, and celebration) are explained along with strategies for…

This report summarizes the preliminary results from surveys of teachers, parents, and students in six Maryland high schools about their attitudes toward and needs for school, family, and community partnerships. Data from 420 families indicate that they feel welcome at their teens' high schools, but a large majority want to be more involved and to…

The international vocational education research collaboration between the University of Jyvaskyla (UJ) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPISU), which began in 1993, was studied. Information for the case study was gathered from questionnaire and interview data from linkage participants from VPISU, seven UJ researchers, and…

The public school systems of 19th century Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, desiring a qualified and ready corps of teachers to staff their respective school systems, established normal schools to train their own staff. Increased Ohio certification requirements prompted Western Reserve University and the Cleveland school board as well as the Municipal…