The STEM Public Outreach Team (SPOT) at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) provides training and community building opportunities for diverse STEM students that impact their persistence in STEM majors and careers. The University of Washington Center for Evaluation and Research for STEM Equity (CERSE) evaluated the experiences of SPOT…

We studied seven programs that engage youth from 10 to 18 years old in wildfire risk reduction in their communities in the United States through in-depth interviews to examine the nature and role of community-school partnerships in resource-focused environmental education. While the programs use a variety of strategies, from Scout badge to summer…

The Anatomical Donations Program at the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) has begun a multiphase project wherein interviews of donors will be recorded and later shown to medical students who participate in the anatomical dissection course. The first phase of this project included surveys of both current UMMS medical students and donors…

There is increasing interest in collaborative arrangements between schools and community scientists to enhance student engagement with learning. We describe research in which we identify a wide range of such collaborations in Australia, and investigate through interviews with community participants their perspectives on the purposes of…

In October 2005, the Maltese Government embarked on a new phase of its national educational reform, which focuses on state compulsory primary and secondary schooling. A central part of this reform was the creation of state-maintained colleges. By February 2008 all state primary and secondary schools on the Maltese Islands were clustered into ten…

The increasing number of special education-related lawsuits has become costly, time-consuming, and a strain on school-community relations--in short, an issue of growing concern to U. S. school systems. To identify factors associated with this type of litigation, this study analyzed data from one state's 10-year experience with due process special…

Within a system, change affects stakeholders differently. Consequently, when making changes in the mental health system, mental health agencies should expect varied reactions from staff, community members, consumers, and families. Since misunderstandings can stymie efforts to implement evidence-based and promising practices, it is important to…

The study involved 14 volunteer facilitators, four UBC staff members, and the researcher as participant; the data collected were observation notes, questionnaires, results from focus groups, and interviews. The study revealed that the key strengths of the training workshop lay in its approach to training, its focus on confidence and capacity…

The purpose of this paper is to inform the community about teacher appraisal methods in the School District of Philadelphia, outline the difficulties of the current system, and suggest approaches that would strengthen the teacher appraisal process. The authors gathered their information over three months in mid-2009 from multiple sources:…

Purpose: Higher education is increasingly being scrutinised and discourse centred on its usefulness to stakeholders. In 1992, the University for Development Studies (UDS) was established in Northern Ghana with a mission to engage with local communities to develop the area. This paper aims to understand the quality perspective of the university…

The purpose of this study was to describe a collaborative partnership model known as the Global Educational Ecosystem, which involves three K-12 schools in Northern California, community organizations (representing science, technology, health, and arts), and Xilinx, Inc. from the perspectives of the leaders of the involved partner organizations in…

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…

Describes the Experience Based Career Education (EBCE) concept and history briefly, and discusses EBCE in Decatur, Joliet, and Sycamore (Illinois) with comments of support from students, the community, parents, and staff. (TA)

Restructuring of schools by means of revising the school calendar from the traditional 9-month calendar to a year-round calendar is one reform idea proposed to meet the diverse abilities and needs of students. Considering the sweeping changes influenced by No Child Left Behind and the trend toward excellence in education, this research focused…

This dissertation explores organizational narratives of engagement initiatives involving two comprehensive universities and the larger regional communities they serve. The purpose of this study is to develop a holistic description of engagement initiatives, reflecting data collected through interviews, documents and other artifacts from…