Provides guidelines culled from the experience of school systems that have used parent volunteers successfully in their assessment programs. (Author/IRT)

A Colorado school district attracted over 2,000 volunteers to work on a winning campaign for a mill increase to make up for a $7 million shortfall in state funds. Offers 10 key lessons along with pointers for putting them to work in other school districts. (MLF)

Describes Spokane (Washington) Public Schools' successful volunteer program that has nearly 1,300 residents (parents, retired persons, and college students) working 50,000 hours yearly in 42 schools. Provides administrators with tips on gaining school support, organizing effectively (including hiring and training a full-time coordinator), and…

Describes how a senior citizen volunteer tutor program at Emerson Elementary School in Riverside (California) achieved success through careful preparation, staff and student cooperation, extra effort to find interested senior citizens, and continual expression of appreciation to volunteers. Presents 17 hints on starting a grandpeople project. (RW)

Sex education in Beaverton (Oregon) is provided through a volunteer, after-school program set up and administered by parents. This article discusses the program's controversial origins and its present success. (WD)

Describes innovative New Mexico basic-skills tutoring program (The Scholars Club) that provides classroom teachers extra time to teach elementary students who need help. Program is funded solely from corporate gifts, foundation grants, and individual donations. (PKP)

A few years ago, the Williamson County (Tennessee) School District developed a strategic plan to encourage volunteers' participation. The plan includes a vision, goals, and objectives; strategies for increasing community involvement; recognition for all volunteers (via the Shining Apple Award); and program evaluation. (MLH)

Linking older people and school children provides benefits for both groups. Describes intergenerational education programs and lists resources to help school districts obtain information on model programs and apply for funding. (MLF)

A Massachusetts school board member's travels with Global Volunteers have provided an opportunity to see how people of different cultures live and work. Global Volunteers is a nonprofit organization that sends small groups of volunteers to developing countries or to underprivileged areas in Mississippi and Texas to help local people with work…

Describes successful volunteer programs that use parents to help expand curriculum, improve academic achievement, and free teachers to make better use of their teaching time. Includes a list of key elements to consider when setting up such programs. (MD)

If a survey questionnaire is designed and worded effectively, volunteers can be used to conduct it. Apple Valley-Rosemount (Minnesota) found that volunteers need not be trained in interviewing techniques, and that the school board and administration can reap a wealth of high quality data and benefits not normally available with conventional, more…

Describes how community volunteers, local businesses, and school employees in the Niles Township (Illinois) High School District collaborated to acquire and install lights for the school football field. (RW)

Princeton, Illinois, is a case study for districts that might be considering setting up education foundations. Interest from a permanent funding base in excess of $120,000 provides funding of grants made to the community's single high school. Consideration is given to initiatives that generate enthusiasm for learning and include the greatest…

Suggestions offered include starting a book drive, training regular classroom teachers in diagnostic and remedial reading procedures, having a reading share-in where teachers describe new programs they have used, teaching teachers to make their own reading games and materials, organizing volunteer programs, and involving parents in the reading…

A volunteer observer program has drastically reduced the incidence of vandalism in the schools of the Schaumburg, Illinois District.