When the Chicago School Reform Act was first passed, many worried that the legislation would usher adversarial politics into the school building. This paper describes parent and community involvement in school decision making at Sprague Elementary school, which serves 1,500 Latino students. The case study chronicles the school's development…

Genuine educational reform depends on developing relationships with the home, community groups, politicians, and the business community (Seeley, 1981). This volume is the second of three reports that are products of a 3.5 year study of education reform, with a focus on the role of parent, family, and community involvement in the middle grades. The…

This paper classifies the university economic impacts on a local community into their short- and long-term effects. The study then offers a classification scheme of university communities by the size of their regions and by their influences. Next, the paper suggests ways that economic impacts vary across university types and describes and…

A study was conducted at North Arkansas Community/Technical College (NACTC) to determine whether the college's mission statement matched the expectations of key internal and external stakeholders. To gather data, surveys were conducted of 554 external stakeholders, including advisory committee members, alumni, chamber of commerce members, area…

This document profiles 11 examples of arts and education institutions across the country that are working to solve community problems. Programs, which reflect a number of purposes, are organized by category. Large Urban Profiles, include: (1) "Bridgemaking" in Chicago: Chicago Arts Partnership in Education; (2) Learning by Working: Young Artists…

The seeming increase of violence in American society and its schools has become a pressing issue. Some researchers argue that the American education system mirrors the dynamics of society. The articles in this book address the following issues: the extent of violence in American schools; the forms that violence takes; its root causes; the effects…

Twenty of 26 active members of the Governor's School to Work (STW) Advisory Council shared their views of and expectations for Arizona's STW initiative. The STW transition occurred in one of three ways: instructors in vocational programs had linkages with employers; a program, school, or district had a placement person to facilitate students' STW…

The Partnership Schools Initiative (PSI) originated among Texas schools in 1992 as a network to create an educational system for achieving excellence and equity for all students. Participants in the network developed a matrix to be used by schools embarking on restructuring efforts, which identifies what leaders of successful schools can do to…

Multiage education involves placing children of different ages, abilities, and emotional maturity in the same classroom. Research indicates that heterogeneous grouping promotes cognitive and social growth, reduces antisocial behavior, and facilitates the use of research-based, developmentally appropriate instructional practices. Because multiage…

Administrators have many methods at their disposal to use in the struggle to control truancy. This paper describes the kinds of truancy-reduction efforts most commonly used: stringent laws and regulations (such as parental sanctions, zero credit, suspensions, and police intervention), inschool programs (the school-climate-improvement and the…

The purpose of this project is to teach students the relationship between volunteerism, good citizenship, and the continuing maintenance and enhancement of society through the examples of the volunteerism of great women community leaders in the St. Louis (Missouri) area. Each unit in the book contains a story or stories, vocabulary, and…

The degree and nature of parental involvement at three high schools was studied. A brief survey of school personnel gathered the responses of teachers about parental involvement, and teachers and staff were asked to nominate involved parents as well as parents who seemed to perceive barriers to school involvement. Following the surveys, 52…

This paper focuses on a middle school in a reform process which includes a curriculum developed jointly by teachers and university personnel. Descriptions of the funding sources, history of the reform project's development and implementation, and the philosophy supporting the reform at various levels are provided. Profiles of the teachers and…

Compiled from information contained in the Program Year 1994-95 Annual Narrative Performance Reports submitted by states to the U.S. Department of Education, this update shares selected information on recent developments in family literacy programs. Section 1 provides information on new or existing collaborations in these states: Colorado,…

The term "community literacy" is normally used to denote a wide variety of off-campus, non-university, and even non-school educational settings, from adult education to family literacy to after-school children's reading circles in places like community centers and public libraries. One college educator uses his connection to a university…