National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Environmental Literacy Program (ELP) Community Resilience Education Theory of Change communicates the overarching philosophy guiding its grants program. It can also be used to inform project-level logic models, ensuring that a project's activities, outcomes, and goals are aligned with the…

Leaders of community-based learning programs must prove the worth of their programs to community hosts, while engaging students at appropriate levels of learning. Pitfalls multiply when programs are interdisciplinary, involve multiple sites, and/or deal with questions of social equity. Such programs must effectively match and prepare students and…

More than four thousand students engage in the community-based learning capstone program every year by enrolling in one of 240 senior-level courses that culminate their undergraduate education. In this article, the author shares the context and history of the program, its foundational principles and processes, and the nuts-and-bolts details of the…

This article covers the importance of creating and developing agency in community partners when engaging in community-based learning. Often when faculty incorporate service- or community-based learning into their classes, we measure the "learning" part but not the "service" or "community." Focusing more on the latter involves working "with"…

The Community Outreach Centre (COC) is part of the Community Development portfolio in the Division of Student Affairs at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It opened in fall 2007 as a resource and support centre for students who live off campus. The overarching goal of the centre is to cultivate community among off-campus students…

This manuscript reports on a program evaluation of a school reform initiative conducted in an Ohio city. The paper describes, interprets, and evaluates this reform process aimed at transforming schools into community learning centers. The manuscript also describes and analyzes the initiative's program evaluation process. Elliot Eisner's [(1998).…

This article presents an interview with Katrina Bledsoe, a senior research associate with Planning, Research & Evaluation Services (PRES) Associates in Washington, D.C. Dr. Bledsoe was a faculty member in the Psychology Department at The College of New Jersey. She was trained under Stewart Donaldson at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) and…

The benefits accrued through the use of triangulation as both a design strategy and an analytic tool cannot be overstated. Triangulation allows for the clustering and organizing of disparate yet related data. Finding out what the data have in common and how the data are different allow the researcher to eliminate (or reduce) the number of…

Describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of 15 community education centers in St. Louis, Missouri. Includes information about the evaluation approach and design, data management, policy changes, outcome expectations, findings and conclusions, and training needs. (JOW)

Critically reviews conventional community education programs on child abuse/neglect and describes a practice model used by the Supportive Child/Adult Network (SCAN), which is said to be effective because it encompasses specific goals and strategies. (Author/CM)

The purpose of the Lincoln (Nebraska) Alliance is (1) to establish a community coalition to bring about change; (2) to empower people on the personal level; (3) to envision a new reality or alternative future; and (4) to challenge the idea that citizens are not capable of understanding the issues or making decisions that determine their future.…

This descriptive evaluation of an interactive media project in Rockford, Illinois, describes the use of video documentaries as a device in meeting community service needs. Objectives of the project were to design a program to train community residents in the use of audio and video tape equipment and provide professional and technical services for…

A 10-site school program is evaluated, the history of community schools, local program's goals, and the method used to study each goal are described. Included also are a structural equation model of the data and discussion of the politics of the evaluation. (Author/GK)

Increasing availability of funds for development, design, and evaluation of alternative learning environments has challenged educational researchers to develop and validate innovative and effective interventions. The focus on accountability has resulted in an accelerated effort to record events, activities, and participation in substantive ways…

This objective evaluation of the Kanawha County Schools Community Education (CE) program offered project staff the opportunity to determine the worth or effectiveness of the CE program and to provide stimuli for program improvement purposes. The CE personnel and the evaluation team blended their expertise--the program staff in the substance of the…