As a result of improvements in and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-446), classrooms across America are evolving into inclusive learning environments where children with and without disabilities learn side-by-side. Often, however, general education teachers find themselves unsure of how…

Toward the end of the of the twentieth century, the idea that young people are social actors gained increasing predominance. Since then, there has been a growing recognition of young people's ability to understand and contribute to forming their environments. In this article, the authors discuss the state of youth participation in the United…

Few communities have developed successful strategies for attracting large numbers of older youth to their out-of-school-time programs. Older youth are a challenging population to serve programmatically for several reasons: (1) Demanding schedules mean that young people's participation on a regular basis can be challenging; (2) Teens are not…

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…

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 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…

The Student Assistance Program (SAP) is a chemical use prevention and early intervention program. Entering the fifth year of implementation, the SAP has expanded from a part-time service contracted with Mental Health to a school-based program serving two high schools and three middle schools. The program is broad based, employing a variety of…

A project to map the outlines of school-community initiatives for educational improvement was undertaken to provide more information about these cooperative efforts. The mapping project aimed to identify the major types, purposes, and strategies of school-community initiatives and explore the dynamics of implementing, sustaining, and expanding…

This report urges that the mission of land grant universities be expanded beyond outreach and service to full engagement with their communities. The engaged institution is seen as being organized to respond to today's and tomorrow's students, bringing research and engagement that offer practical opportunities for students into the curriculum, and…

This study examines how 11 community colleges present and promote their service learning courses via the Internet. Of particular interest to this study are the following features of online presentations: (1) how detailed and developed the Web site is and the extent of the information provided; (2) whether the Web site provides student and faculty…

Issues in establishing and improving school-community partnerships are presented in this paper. Following a review of literature, the essential elements of strong parental involvement programs are described. Five major types of parental involvement programs are identified, and strategies and activities for improving them are offered. A conclusion…

School-based early childhood centers have the potential for responding effectively to a broad range of child and family needs and to society's demands for more effective schools. They have four defining features: (1) implementation of quality programs and developmentally appropriate practices for young children through age eight; (2) families as…

Experimental efforts to carry out a program of neighborhood one-to-one volunteer activity by urban low-income black elderly were unsuccessful. An alternate program of volunteering for group activities emerged. Environmental perils, limited professional supports, and volunteer characteristics were seen as accounting for the changed focus. (Author)

This article describes a career information center which was established in a Canadian high school. (HMV)