The purpose of this handbook is to help communities initiate small grant programs for teachers using the one currently operating in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) as a model. Small grant programs, in which teachers compete for community-sponsored grants to carry out innovative projects with their students, are described as meeting two needs: new…

In view of the national attention that has recently been brought to public school improvement, a list of suggestions is presented in the form of leading questions to guide communities in assessing the quality of their local schools and in promoting beneficial change. The evaluative questions touch on a wide range of issues: school financing…

This brochure provides several tips for families and for community members to help them encourage student achievement and success. The tips are grouped into three categories: (1) "Help our children read well and independently by the end of third grade"; (2) "Help our children learn to meet high math and science standards and take challenging math…

This Spanish-language brochure provides several tips for families and for community members to help them encourage student achievement and success. The tips are grouped into three categories: (1) "Help our children read well and independently by the end of third grade"; (2) "Help our children learn to meet high math and science standards and take…

Changing population patterns, inflated housing costs, and cuts in school financing have forced many school districts to face school closures and school consolidation as a way of maintaining solvency. This report reviews the literature on school consolidation with attention to the fact that the need to consolidate now faces elementary schools as…

Using the school-community council as a vehicle, this manual leads school staffs, parents, community representatives, and school council members step-by-step through suggested tasks to strengthen schools and to help restore confidence in the public school system. Chapter 1, "Schools and Communities Working Together: A Rationale," defines…

This report on Virginia higher education briefly reviews the impact of economic recession, slashed budgets, increased tuition, and increasing politicization upon the state's higher education system, and then looks ahead to issues critical to the higher education's future in the state. The report proposes action in three areas: (1) adequate funding…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), with the establishment and promulgation of standards for the reform of teaching and learning mathematics, has furnished the leadership and the impetus toward the achievement of a vision of affording a high-quality mathematics education for all of the nation's children. Published in March…

This catalog contains more than 600 abstracts of model programs in California designed to help business, education, and community groups establish or expand partnerships in support of local education. An executive summary precedes the abstracts. The program abstracts are divided into 21 sections corresponding to specific forms of involvement.…