A community school is a place and a set of partnerships connecting a school, the families of students, and the surrounding community. A community school is distinguished by an integrated focus on academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development. The community school strategy is central to efforts…

This report on a spring retreat for participants in the New York State Community School Pilot Project emphasizes the need to develop and strengthen collaboration between schools and other organizations and individuals with widely diverse interests. Ninety-seven people attended, including representatives from each of the 14 school districts…

This report analyzes case studies of "more and better learning time" efforts around the country. With support from the Ford Foundation, America's Promise Alliance looked in Grand Rapids, MI; Louisville, KY; Memphis, TN; and Rochester, NY to see how time spent out of the classroom improved outcomes for students in low-income neighborhoods…

This report on the New York State Community Schools Pilot Project summarizes the project, focusing primarily on the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children's role in providing technical assistance, coordination, and support services. Between January and October of 1988, the Gould Foundation conducted the following activities: (1) organized a statewide…

Policy Studies Associates (PSA) is conducting a five-year evaluation of the implementation and impact of the national demonstration of a model for expanded learning time developed by "The After-School Corporation" (TASC). This model, called "ExpandED Schools," aims to transform the educational experiences of students in ways…

There are hundreds of tutoring programs that utilize community volunteers being implemented across the country; however, there are few rigorous efforts to evaluate their effectiveness. This article presents findings on reading achievement from an evaluation of the New York City Experience Corps[R], a program that uses older volunteers to work with…

New York's Cornell University spends millions of dollars and thousands of staff and volunteer hours to produce more than 1,400 events around the world each year. That's one event every six hours. Is it worth it? Do the 40,000 alumni, parents, and friends who attend feel closer to Cornell after these events? Do they disengage because Cornell didn't…

This technical brief describes updates to a database of dropout prevention programs and policies in 2006/07 created by the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands and described in the Issues & Answers report, "Piloting a searchable database of dropout prevention programs in nine low-income urban school districts in the…

This report on the status of SEARCH provides information about its beginnings, funding considerations, case studies of project success, evaluation methods, and application and testing of SEARCH in a number of school districts throughout the state of New York. Project SEARCH is geared to humanizing education by making students aware of the values…

In 1997, New York State passed legislation implementing Universal Prekindergarten (UPK), a new educational program with the goal of providing a voluntary, high-quality preschool experience to all 4-year-olds and improving school readiness. One of the program requirements is that school districts contract out at least 10 percent of UPK funds to…

Because of the special roles schools play in rural communities, school-based programs can effectively reach rural populations. The article describes a state-funded, school-based cardiovascular health education program that successfully disseminated health messages to K-6 students in 2 rural upstate New York counties. (SM)

The goal of this guide is to provide information, support and practical tools that may help educators design, implement, and evaluate their school's standards-based education program. In order to work, a comprehensive, standards-based educational program must, by definition, be the organizing structure upon which the school program operates.…

Techniques employed in a "Joint University-Community Urban Problem-Solving Course" in promoting discussion among two diverse sets of population are described in this handbook. The course, offered during the Fall 1971 and Spring 1972 semesters at Syracuse University, comprised approximately 30 undergraduates from the university and 30…

BRIDGE (Business Relating to Industry to Develop Gifted Education) was designed to bridge the gap between business, industry, and education via an internship program that would expose gifted and talented secondary school students to actual experiences which would increase their career awareness and knowledge of career opportunities. In addition,…

Late in 2007 New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City reform organization, received a grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation to organize select high schools and community partners into delivery systems that could improve student achievement. New Visions asked Policy Studies Associates, Inc. to provide research support for this effort in the…