Embedded hierarchical relationships between children and adults constrain children's voice. For adults to support children's participation in decisions they need to learn new ways of working; to enable children to communicate their views, develop their ideas, make group decisions and take joint action. This article explores the different roles…

While assessment of student learning outcomes has become standard operating procedure on virtually every campus, the driving forces for pursuing assessment remain primarily external. For that to change, campuses must evolve toward a culture of assessment based on the shared values and expectations that arise out of a community. The first step in…

This handbook describes a set of tools small communities can use to reduce the cost of drinking water and wastewater projects. It is intended as a desktop reference for two primary audiences: (1) local residents (elected officials, plant operators, and concerned citizens) for whom the book provides detailed advice on how to do conduct a project at…

Goal One of the six national education goals now embodied in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act states that "By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn." One of the objectives formulated to meet this goal asserts that "Children will receive the nutrition and health care needed to arrive at school…

Service learning is a teaching tool in which students apply classroom skills to solve real problems in their communities. Community service becomes service learning when it is connected to classroom learning and contains opportunities for students to reflect upon their experiences. In addition to enhancing learning through experience, service…

The Join Together National Advisory Committee was created to help communities be more effective in developing and implementing strategies to reduce the harm from substance abuse. Join Together conducted this national report to describe community coalitions and to assess their contributions and needs. The findings are intended to help coalitions,…

AmeriCorps is a national initiative that involves citizens in strengthening America's communities through community service. This document presents findings of a cost-benefit analysis of two AmeriCorps programs in Washington State--the Hoquiam Project and the Lake Chelan Project. In calculating annual costs, the study included both federal dollars…

This document was prepared for participants of the 1986 Invitational Conference for Boards of Education in Maryland. It contains three sections that present scenarios dealing with the following issues: staffing, interest group involvement, and secondary schools. Each section includes: (1) a definition or discussion of the issues currently…

In hoping for a brighter future of self-government and self-determination, Canadian Aboriginal communities have placed great hopes and expectations on their youth. The complexity and uniqueness of career-related issues pose a formidable challenge in the development of career counseling programs for Aboriginal youth. This digest describes the…

This collection of six articles describes essential features of systemic program evaluation. Articles are: (1) "Programs Need to Go Beyond 'Comprehensive'" (R. Jerry Adams and Kim Yap); (2) "Systematic Planning of Goals for Desired Outcomes" (Steve Nelson); (3) "A Framework for Conducting Systematic Evaluation" (Dean Arrasmith); (4) "Developing…

This document identifies violence as a major problem in North Carolina public schools, with thousands of students and staff victimized every year. In 1994, 6,937 criminal incidents were reported to the State Board of Education; 6,897 students were involved in incidents on school property as offenders and 1,447 students were victimized.…

This document lists those guides most pertinent to service-learning in the collection at the National Service-Learning Cooperative Clearinghouse (NSLCC). Each citation provides bibliographic information, an indication of the type of guide, a program grade level, and the source or sources where the guide can be obtained. If an abstract was…

This study sought to determine what, if any, local funding sources are available to rehabilitation service providers as supplements to fee-for-service funding for specific consumers. Chief executive officers at 20 community-based vocational rehabilitation organizations in Minnesota and Wisconsin were interviewed to determine organization financial…

This primer on youth development is intended to help communities rethink youth services in the context of the larger community. It offers guidance about the changes necessary to plan for and accept new ideas. The youth development approach advocated by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) suggests that helping young people achieve their…

This report presents the results of U.S. Senate-House of Representatives conference committee deliberations concerning amendments to S. 2000, the Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1994, which is designed to reauthorize appropriations for fiscal years 1995 through 1998 to carry out the Head Start Act, the Community Services Block Grant Act, and…