When beginning music teachers enter a new classroom for the first time, they start a journey toward understanding a new context and community. Place consciousness develops as they become embedded in their community and begin to recognize how its culture and environment interact with their teaching practices. By mapping the objects, people, and…

Education North is an experimental project to promote community involvement in schools in seven selected towns in northern Alberta (Canada). The project strategy is based on the "local education society" (LES), an autonomous group that develops and operates local programs using government funds, independent of the local education agency…

Available in English or Spanish, this resource guide aims to help rural schools and communities learn ways of supporting each other so that both can thrive. Background information and basic tools are provided for starting a joint school-community development effort. Chapters contain: (1) outline of the guide and statement of beliefs about…

This document explains how to establish study circles for public dialogue and community problem solving with the aim of building strong neighborhoods. The foreword explains the value of study circles in addressing the challenges currently facing all kinds of neighborhoods and presents 10 specific guidelines for organizing study circles in a…

Community-based learning (CBL) is a structured approach to learning and teaching that connects meaningful community experience with intellectual development, personal growth, and active citizenship. Enthusiasm for CBL is emerging in Australia and elsewhere because it is seen as the following: strategy for whole-school reform, especially in…

Despite its high employment rate, the Near Northside Neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas, has a median income more than 40% below the citywide level. In 1999, the Near Northside Partners' Council (NNPC) became one of five centers for the national Neighborhood Jobs Initiative Demonstration. After extensive planning, the Neighborhood Jobs Initiative…

The model currently used to represent the impacts of Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) programs implies a one-way flow of impact from TAFE to student to community. It may be argued that TAFE could better serve its clients by developing a social capital-based, two-way, reciprocal dynamic of vocational education and training (VET)…

This document is a step-by-step guide to organizing a study circle program to serve as a vehicle to achieve communitywide dialogue for action and change. Part 1 provides an overview of communitywide study circle programs, with special emphasis on their operation and impact. Part 2 details the following steps in organizing a communitywide study…