This paper discusses the potential of school district-based and community-wide approaches to dropout prevention, and provides a summary of the goals and expected outcomes of the Consortium on Dropout Prevention, and the Urban Dropout Prevention Collaboratives Program. The Consortium on Dropout Prevention was formed to cooperatively gather and…

Over the last 10 years there has been a striking development in the system of community-based programs to replace or supplement institutional care for juvenile offenders. However, the analysis of 30 community-based residential programs in six metropolitan areas found that the community-based model of services is still a relatively untried…

Research has found a strong relationship between aggregate economic indicators and the number of individuals receiving services from mental health facilities. To examine the relationship between macroeconomics and health, the broad utilization patterns and demographic information on the aggregate number of individuals using the mental health…

This paper identifies three different historical perspectives about citizens with developmental disabilities and their relationships to their fellow citizens and to state and federal governments. These perspectives are compared and contrasted as a basis for thinking about the future. A chart illustrates the perspectives of a distant past, a more…

A national survey gathered information from 47 states concerning small-scale community living options of 15 or fewer placements for older individuals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. The survey collected data on long-term funding, support services, mandates and regulations, efforts of interagency task force planning, and…

Of the empirical research on agency utilization, examinations on the usage of community based organizations (CBO's) such as Community Action Programs, Opportunities Industrialization Centers, and Urban Leagues, have been minute. This study of CBO's revealed significant relationships relative to the use of program services by 575 respondents…

A Colorado school district has evolved a plan for continuous updating of curriculum that is broad in scope, involves the external environment, and integrates the efforts of citizens and educators. The first step of the external audit process involves the development of goals and an overview of a state-of-the-art program by the program manager and…

This compilation brings together various conference papers and a working group report on the topic of residential services for people with deaf-blindness and other profound disabilities. The title paper by Lyle T. Romer describes three measures for evaluating residential programs: capacity, progress, and lifestyle. Valued outcomes of a residential…

This report includes the background papers developed for an invitational workshop on mental health program development for minority youth and their families, and a summary of the recommendations made and actions to be taken. Section I presents an overall framework and an overview of the issues that were explored in greater depth at the workshop.…

Two conference papers describing various collaborative arrangements within the educational community among teachers, students and others are presented in this document. The first paper, "Successful Collaborations" (Eugene Cota-Robles), describes the following projects in California that seek to forge collaborations to improve the…

This report recommends ways to integrate values education into schools' curricula. Societal problems indicate that values play as important a role in students' development as math and science, as suggested by statistics on increasing teenage suicide, pregnancies, and dropping out. While it is important to ensure that at-risk students become…

A group of three conference papers, all addressing the subject of effective programs to decrease the number of school dropouts, is presented in this document. The first paper, "Systemic Approaches to Reducing Dropouts" (Michael Timpane), asserts that dropping out is a symptom of failures in the social, economic, and educational systems.…

Policy planners can create improved systems of care and new support systems for rural families who are raising children with disabling conditions or special health care needs, by recognizing the unique needs of these families, the ecology of local service delivery systems, and the special resource requirements of rural areas. Lack of information…