This qualitative study is based on a series of interviews conducted with students (n=6) who participated in the inaugural cohort of a year-long students-as-partners program called CTL Scholars. As one of the first students-as-partners programs implemented at this large, dispersed, public research institution, students of diverse majors and…

In a school district context where a well-developed district-wide PDS partnership had been in operation for more than 15 years, a team of instructional coaches was formed of district teachers who left their classrooms for two to four years under the leadership of a curriculum coordinator. In this article, members of the coaching team offer…

This article describes how out-of-work miners are engaged in the Empowering Education Initiative, a unique alliance between Country Music Television (CMT) and community colleges in Appalachia. The initiative, which includes a website and a series of country music concerts, is changing the conversation in the Appalachian region, giving hope to…

The U.S. energy sector has become highly innovative in developing and applying new technologies. These innovations often require higher-paid, more-highly skilled labor, yet many employers in the region report that they have difficulty filling jobs, particularly for medium-skilled (or semi skilled) positions that require only a high school…

This study used qualitative methods to evaluate the perceptions of parents, educators, and school administrators in three large, urban school districts (Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Rochester) regarding services for children with autism spectrum disorder within the context of limited district resources. Facilitators followed a standard…

Partnerships between universities and school districts are increasingly being identified as a means to overcome the difficulties of preparing the next generation of urban high school principals. This article examines the development of such a multiorganizational partnership with a large urban school district, two universities, and a national…

"The Road to Recovery: Projecting U.S. Job Growth and Higher Education Demand through 2020" (this issue, p26-29) presented six key indicators that highlighted the latest in education and employment needs for the success of the future jobs market. While the U.S. economy is growing, questions still remain: What skills do employers value…

In 2004-05, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) began a groundbreaking partnership with the Eli Broad Foundation to develop the Academy for Leadership in Philadelphia Schools (ALPS), one of several Broad-funded, alternative principal development programs initiated across the country. The ALPS effort was designed to respond to two challenges:…

Congress recently passed legislation improving the Post-9/11 GI Bill for the millions of eligible Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans to use in their pursuit of education and training. This legislation provides a tremendous opportunity for these valued Americans to obtain the skills necessary for employment at a time when they are often making the…

One of the great concerns of the business community involves the workforce pipeline: employers want to be sure that new entries into the labor pool, whether from the K-12 or postsecondary systems, are prepared for the jobs that await them. In Philadelphia, business and community leaders have joined forces to give students workplace learning…

Annually, ACT provides a snapshot of the college and career readiness of ACT-tested high school graduates. This report is offered as a service to inform policymakers and practitioners about selected indicators of effectiveness and how that translates into readiness. It is designed to stimulate discussion, inquiry, and action. This report for the…

"Linking Workforce Development to Economic Development: A Casebook for Community Colleges" is a compilation of best practice examples, which illustrate what it takes for community colleges to achieve their goal of helping people acquire education and skills, helping employers, supporting communities, and building the nation. The book is…

The goal of this workshop for school psychologists is to provide high quality training in best practices for instructional evaluation. An objective of these trainings is to facilitate the implementation of the instructional evaluation requirement of the Special Education Regulations and Standards for determining eligibility for special education…

This paper presents the annual report of Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) for 2004. To underscore and celebrate the convergence of so many key elements, this year's annual report is structured as a series of lists, describing many of the essential components of PYN's work, and representing the combined efforts of many dedicated individuals and…

The document features two articles on school reform in Pennsylvania. Part one discusses the Instruction Support Team (IST) (Kovaleski, Tucker, and Duffy). The IST process is an intensive building-based pre-referral intervention program to assist elementary students experiencing difficulty in the classroom. The IST is a working group of teachers…