Discusses the importance of family and community involvement to student achievement. Schools can establish an effective partnership among schools, families, and the community by providing support for families, creating family-community learning centers, supporting the community, providing opportunities for shared responsibility, facilitating the…

Describes a pilot project of the Park/School Program which involved graduate students in environmental studies conducting field studies in ecology with 46 fifth graders. Provides an overview of the project's potential for effecting change inside and outside the classroom, and presents recommendations for future programs and research. (LZ)

Describes a program involving two universities and a local urban school district in a year-long experience (practicum and student teaching). The program provided additional support to students through coursework, seminars, electronic discussions, and interactive small and whole-group meetings. Results suggest that students needed regular, frequent…

Addresses various Professional Development School (PDS) functions (teacher preparation, staff development, research, and student learning), describing the development of one urban PDS. Highlights issues raised by an exploratory study of a cohort of interns at the PDS and by a collaborative effort of the school and a field-based teacher-education…

McCosh Even Start, a federally funded family-literacy project located in a Chicago school, used older donated Apple computers, video technology, and photography to develop literacy and also to evaluate parents' and children's literacy progress. Older and newer technologies were successfully combined. (MLH)

Describes a new program entitled Faith in the City created to strengthen and enhance every aspect of Catholic elementary education in Washington's center city, and to find ways to help the schools grow by working together. (YKH)

Describes the Virtual Running Start program that allows high school and other students to attend Seattle Community Colleges via the World Wide Web. Community-based learning, which allows students to use computers in public libraries or high school computer labs, is discussed, and implications for libraries are considered. (LRW)

Four key factors contributed to program success or failure of five context-specific, school-based teacher preparation programs in Arizona: university personnel, administrative support, flexibility and risk taking, and a focus on quality. Among individual program goals were preparation of special education teachers for elementary and rural Navajo…

Describes three key factors in restructuring at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis School of Education (collaboration, partnerships, and community building), asserting that if education, particularly teacher education, does not heed the signals issuing from the workplace and the public, those who prepare professional educators run the risk of…

Compared student teachers' attitudes toward working in urban schools before and after student teaching. Participants rated interest and comfort levels for teaching in four very different schools. Respondents had difficulty envisioning themselves teaching urban students. Attitudes shifted more favorably toward urban teaching among students who had…

Describes the Hawaii Partnership for Standards-Based School Health Education, which includes various state agencies, a university, local businesses, and the American Cancer Society, highlighting: the development of the standards; the history of the partnership; partnership activities to date; concurrent supporting efforts; future plans; and…

Describes the University of California San Diego's efforts to increase campus diversity by developing school-university partnerships with local low income, urban K-12 schools. Data from fieldnotes, interviews, documents, videotapes, and student focus groups show that this type of collaboration can increase college-going outcomes for…

Reflects on the roles and responsibilities of four key educators involved in a Professional Development School (PDS): a university faculty member, a middle school principal, a middle school teacher who is also an adjunct professor, and another middle school teacher. The paper reflects on the Holmes Group concept at work. (SM)

Describes the unique distance education consortium developed by the Colorado Community College and Occupational Education system. The consortium provides centralized management of faculty and curriculum, and decentralized management of student services. "CCCOnline" was developed in response to student desires for convenient learning…

Young offenders present many challenges to the juvenile justice system, the school system and the labor system as they transfer from residential commitment to their home communities. The challenges can be overwhelming, potentially creating a sense of hopelessness for the community and for the youth. In response to the need for appropriate academic…