This book explores research on processes that influence family-school partnerships in support of student learning and education. It highlights research related to culture, contexts, and development as families and schools work together to promote smooth transitions and academic achievement. The volume discusses research related to family and…

These maps represent a selection of the 2013-2014 AISD Fine Arts Inventory survey results. The purpose of the maps is to illustrate the scope of fine arts representation in Austin Independent School District (AISD) schools.

Participatory educational research is generally characterised by a commitment to making a difference in the lives of those who participate in the research and more broadly, to promoting social transformation. This suggests a potentially fruitful synergy between participatory educational research and the multidisciplinary body of academic work on…

Service-learning is a transformational pedagogy with timely application to the teaching and learning of foreign languages. In our current climate of assessment outcomes, language study and the humanities more generally tend to be devalued and rendered invisible by utilitarian models of evaluation. Incorporating service-learning courses and…

This article examines the issue of internal legitimization and its importance in securing high-quality community engagement in K-12 schools. Drawing on the literature from the fields of community engagement, school reform, school-university partnerships, and school-community partnerships, this article describes some of the prevailing challenges…

When school leaders engage with their communities, they develop trusting relationships that support student, staff, and family learning. Digital and social media tools open doors and create opportunities to connect with families and communities in ways that have never been seen before. This article provides three simple ideas that can easily be…

In this reflective essay, we describe Widener University's 10-year transformation from a disengaged institution to an institution that has a metropolitan-focused mission vested in civic leadership, community engagement, and service-learning. We describe our journey to embed an expansive civic frame that includes concrete practices of pedagogy,…

Harsh and cruel experiences have led many of our young to believe that they are alone in the world and that no one cares. In this article, Martin L Mitchell introduces us to the "National CARES Mentoring Movement" founded by Susan L.Taylor. This movement provides young people with role models who help shape their positive development.…

Imagined communities are not bound by space or time, they exist in opposition to other communities, and the members perceive themselves as existentially similar. Multiple case studies and interviews revealed that the seven Christian schools in this study functioned as imagined communities, and their literary practices served to establish,…

This article addresses school and community-level issues associated with the expanding crisis of student homelessness in the United States. We note that while an increased geographic dispersion of homeless and highly mobile (HHM) families is largely attributed to the widespread effects of the economic recession, it is also furthered by shifting…

This article demonstrates how unknowing and/or unintentional commitments to neoliberal ideology adversely impact the advancement of the civic engagement movement. After considering the relevant literature on this topic, I outline how the grant-seeking process can be understood as one organizing technique that affirms structures produced by…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences, issues, and concerns Thai government school principals have about the presence of armed military guards and how this helps or impedes their school leadership. Data were taken from a larger ongoing study of this topic and the findings suggest that the military protection of schools…

Community boundary spanners create ties that bind the campus and its surrounding region for reciprocal relationships. Using community boundary spanning literature as a conceptual framework, this study went beyond existing research on public and 4-year comprehensive universities to examine how university leadership at rural, private liberal arts…

Individual and family stories of homelessness that focus on the transition out of homelessness remain comparatively unexplored. Using hermeneutic inquiry and microstoria analysis to orient the inquiry and design the narrative, this case study involves the story of a woman overcoming homelessness with her family, and her participation in, and…

Migrant families are mobile by nature. They are constantly searching--for the next harvest, for a new job opportunity. It too often appears that this transient population drifts in and out of schools without one being appreciably affected by the other. This is a lost opportunity, both for the migratory students and for the communities and schools…