In this research brief we present the results of a recent needs assessment evaluating the advocacy-based needs for Kentuckians with developmental disabilities and their families. Results highlight the different levels and types of supports needed to build self-advocacy capacity and to inform effective planning and services and the individual,…

Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

Written to help local school systems more fully utilize community expertise in their career education programs, this guide discusses the following topics in a question/answer format: What is community involvement? What challenges must be overcome to gain effective community involvement? and How are community involvement activities developed and…

Written as a guide to aid rural Appalachian high schools in the establishment of a work experience program, this booklet describes the development of a work experience program in six steps and then presents an example of a work experience program developed in Eastern Kentucky by this procedure. The guide also discusses the do's and don'ts of…

Intended to guide local school systems in the development of a resource center for a career education program, this booklet identifies three kinds of resources which should be included: Human resources, community resources, and material resources. Then in a question/answer format, the guide explains the basic steps in identifying all resources…

This background briefing paper synthesizes current thinking and practice on the issue of latchkey children and school-age child care (SACC). The paper defines the problem of latchkey children; reviews related literature and programmatic responses to the problem; reports responses of four southern states; and points out implications for policy…

The Louisville Public School District is probably the only large public school district which has systematically begun change on a "systems" basis. Top school officials first made a wide-ranging assessment of the most pressing problems in the district, developed and stated their premises, and then planned two programs. The primary…

The grassroots Rural Communities Educational Cooperative (RCEC) made higher education accessible/affordable to adults in rural Appalachian communities, designed courses for competency-based rural education, and received high ratings from students and faculty. The Mountain Women's Exchange--a network of seven community organizations run by…

In the 1990s, the nation's educational focus turned to troubled schools in the nation's poorest cities. Under the leadership of Luther Williams, then Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Urban Systemic Initiative was created to improve the teaching and learning of science and mathematics. Recognizing that high-needs…

This description of career education activities in Jefferson County (Louisville, Kentucky) was prepared as part of a study conducted to identify evaluated, exemplary career education activities which represent the best of the current career education programs and practices referred to in Public Law 93-380. (See CE 018 212 for the final report of…

Many of the people who live in Knott County today are direct descendants of the early settlers of the region. Today the people of Knott County share an identity that is grounded in the place they and their ancestors called home. Perhaps the public endeavor in which the influence of place is most evident is education. In Knott County education has…