This document reports on a fall 1994 working conference on linking education, health, social services, and other supports that children and families need, with the school as the hub. The conference involved six working groups. Four working groups were age-related, discussing early childhood, elementary, adolescent, and youth-in-transition…

Noting that many communities in the United States have set the ambitious goal of enhancing school readiness, this report is intended to help communities invest wisely in school readiness initiatives. Part 1 of the report summarizes recommendations from the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) for defining and assessing school readiness. The core…

This volume is part of a series of 18 monographs service learning and the academic disciplines. This collection focuses on the use of service learning as an approach to teaching and learning in philosophy. After a Foreword by David A. Hoekema and an Introduction by C. David Lisman, chapters in Part 1, "Service-Learning as a Mode of…

Accomplishing significant improvement in teaching and learning requires strong, open, and interactive relationships between schools and the community. Chapter 1, "What's Out There," explores the vital role of teacher morale in successful reforms and argues that teachers and schools should actively connect, in more effective ways, with…

This guidebook is designed to provide teachers, schools, parents, and other community leaders with the needed ideas, strategies, and resources to combine service learning and character education in meaningful educational activities for children and young people. The booklet contains seven short sections that provide an overview of character…

These Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) state action plans were initially developed in 1998 for the central regional states, which include Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. They detail the states' specific technical assistance needs, as well as the services to be provided by Mid-Continent…

Designed for parents of students, this booklet provides information and strategies for helping students with disabilities make a smooth transition to postsecondary education and training. The first part of the booklet addresses: building blocks for transition, transition services mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,…

Available in English or Spanish, this resource guide aims to help rural schools and communities learn ways of supporting each other so that both can thrive. Background information and basic tools are provided for starting a joint school-community development effort. Chapters contain: (1) outline of the guide and statement of beliefs about…

This publication is an outgrowth of a cooperative effort by the Association of American Colleges and the University of Maryland to use the World Wide Web to disseminate information about promising diversity programs, courses, and campus life initiatives being developed by colleges and universities around the country. Descriptions of diversity…

This brief paper tells the story of a group of high school students in West Texas who worked together to solve a language problem in their local public schools. They determined that there was a need to have better bilingual resources and services available to new arrivals with limited or no English language speaking ability. The bulk of the paper…

To meet the challenges of student diversity, the Southwest Texas Center for Professional Development and Technology offers school-family-community partnerships with urban schools. Preservice teacher interns participate in field-based experiences where they interact with diverse students in various settings over a semester. They learn to handle the…

Service learning addresses many developmental needs of early adolescents that may be neglected in academic curricula, a particularly urgent need for inner city youth. This paper describes the urban National Helper's Network, noting ways that service learning empowers both the servers and the served, who are both in need. (SM)

The trend of rising enrollments represents new educational challenges. President Clinton's literacy initiative, America's Reading Challenge, aims to ensure that every child can read independently and well by the end of third grade. This challenge supports grassroots literacy efforts and programs such as Head Start, AmeriCorps, enhanced community…

This final report describes the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Home/School Support project, an Oregon project which attempted to decrease stress in parents caring for school-aged children with TBI and to provide support to schools serving students with TBI. During its 3 years of development, the project involved over 50 families of children, ages…

It has long been recognized that organizations that provide education, health and other services to children and families do not work together easily, although coordination is recognized as desirable. This exploration of facilitation strategies in service coordination draws upon the study by the Center on Education in the Inner Cities of projects…