Focusing on creating community partnerships via collaboration to support the growth and development of children and families, this guide is intended to enhance the knowledge and skills Head Start staff need to be full collaborative partners in community efforts to help families develop, nurture their children, and experience success. Following an…

Cultural and linguistic diversity is increasing, and ESOL (English speaker of other languages) students are often at risk for academic failure. School boards' and administrators' legal and fiscal decisions should be based on valid research and detailed accounts of effective programs. Chapter 1 considers the history of structural responses to ESOL…

This guide presents a five-step approach to planning, conducting, and evaluating a community-school health advisory council. The five steps are: (1) convening an advisory council (learning about community-school health advisory councils, obtaining support from the school district, identifying potential members, organizing and conducting the first…

The educational objective of this user's guide is to provide parents, teachers, and administrators with a resource to catalyze a wide range of partnerships and projects. Schools work best when everyone is actively involved so as to demonstrate democracy first hand. This program is designed to promote the democratic process of active citizenship in…

This guide to including children with special needs in community programs in New Jersey begins with a history of the inclusion movement, stressing the importance of personal experiences and beliefs and ways in which inclusion benefits everyone. The following chapter provides answers to 32 frequently asked questions on successful inclusion of…

This paper discusses the problems faced by Minnesota's Supporting Diversity in Schools organization in communicating their goal of making schools responsive to students of differing ethnic backgrounds. It was found that using terms such as "multicultural curriculum" and "isolation of schools and communities of color from one…

This newsletter describes the 6-year Supporting Diversity in Schools (SDS) project that seeks to create school environments free of racial prejudice and privilege. It briefly describes the program's working themes: (1) giving a voice to people who have traditionally been silent in the shaping of classroom practices; (2) developing pride in…

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…

Our nation's youth dropout rate, while consistent for almost 20 years, has increasingly become a major educational and societal problem. This summary of a longer sourcebook provides an overview of various strategies and initiatives for groups, schools, businesses, and communities to consider in addressing their dropout problems, and describes a…

Demographic changes are causing leaders in education, business and civic affairs to address new questions about racial and ethnic diversity. What opportunities does diversity provide? What difficulties does it create? What changes are needed in the ways that people look at problems, define solutions and do the everyday business of their lives? The…