"Scaling Up School and Community Partnerships: The Community Schools Strategy" builds on both practice and research to describe the what, why, and how of system-wide expansion of community schools. The guide is written for a wide audience and for communities at different points in planning for, implementing, and sustaining a community…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

This report is the result of the participation of hundreds of students, families, school educators, and researchers who dedicated their time and energy to investigating the critical role that families and communities play in ensuring students and schools can flourish. It is a culmination of over two years of collaborative research and hundreds of…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. After a two-year pandemic, issues related to funding, teacher recruitment and retention, and serving disadvantaged students have become more severe in rural school districts. In the five-part report series, "Educational Equity for Rural Students: Out of the Pandemic, but Still Out of the…

This set of resources organizes evidence-based strategies for re-engaging and supporting students with disabilities and their families through school completion. This document is comprised of three related quick references--Part 1: Identify Who Is Missing; Part 2: Re-Engaging Students; and Part 3: Continuing Ongoing Dropout Prevention. Each…

This article is a literature review of the professional competencies and personal qualities commonly associated with successful leadership in rural schools. Multiple definitions of the term rural are provided. A delimitation of this research is that findings reflect literature published from 2005-2015, positioning this document as a current…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has made the assessment that COVID-19 (coronavirus) can be characterised as a pandemic and the virus has now spread to many countries and territories. While a lot is still unknown about the virus that causes COVID-19, we do know that it is transmitted through direct contact with respiratory droplets of an…

Since 2012, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has supported educational enrichment in rural areas by awarding over $3.3 million in grants to six outstanding organizations operating in Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In this report, the authors combine the experiences of these organizations with findings from the…

Developing positive school climates and improving school discipline policies and practices are critical steps to raising academic achievement and supporting student success. However, there is no single formula for doing so. Rather, the growing body of research and best practices in the field should inform locally developed approaches to improving…

This manual was written to help guide education stakeholders--including parents, students, school board members, community activists, administrators, policymakers and attorneys--in their efforts to promote racial diversity and avoid racial isolation in suburban school systems. Critical information on the current legal, political and policy issues…

This guide helps leaders working with parents and the community learn about promising practices in parent and community involvement in school reform. By examining the efforts of seven contrasting groups working with parents nationwide, the guide depicts the many forms that parent and community involvement in schools can take, highlighting…

To increase interactions and to improve communication between the school and home, the TransParent School concept was developed. The TransParent School Model (TSM) includes computer-based calling from the school and uses electronic mailboxes so parents can call and hear a message from the teacher every day. The model, first implemented in a school…

The Office of National Drug Control policy has put together this guide to assist educators, parents, and community leaders in determining whether student drug testing is appropriate for their schools. The aim is to provide anyone considering a drug-testing program in his or her community with a broad understanding of the issue and solid,…

Schools have expressed a need to know the identity and/or circumstances of young offenders in order to address school safety and security issues, and to provide a collaborative and coordinated case management approach for the rehabilitation of the young person. A framework for the exchange of information between youth justice and school officials…

This report describes two studies completed by the Child Advocacy Commission of Durham, North Carolina. The Durham school system has one of the lowest retention rates of any system in the state. The studies were used to advocate for and help implement new and better dropout prevention strategies in their schools. The report also outlines the need…