This curriculum packet of teacher-developed lesson plans, intended for use with students in middle and/or high schools, focuses on student involvement in community projects. The first lesson plan, "Physics Park" (Scott McQuerry), aims for students to construct a playground and the examine the physics behind the playground's equipment. Students use…

Many children and adolescents, in Boston and elsewhere, experience drastic incongruities between their home, school, and community environments. Arguing that after-school programs can help to unify these disparate worlds, thereby fostering a sense of continuity for youth and aiding their development as learners, this report shows how best to…

Migrant students and their families have a wide range of academic and social-economic needs. Long-term observation of numerous migrant programs in south Texas and elsewhere suggests that the school districts that are most successful in meeting those needs and the goals of the Migrant Education Program tend to share six recurrent practices. First,…

The purpose of this qualitative, historical study was to investigate the impact of the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Settlement Movement, and the Progressive Education Movement on the handiwork at Hindman Settlement School (formerly W.C.T.U. Settlement School, 1902-1910) located in the eastern Kentucky Appalachian Mountain region. Three themes…

This document contains a series of 2001 research briefs, Catalyst: Inquiry for Change (Volume 1), that is part of a research project supported by the Institute for Community College Development at Cornell University, New York. The Institute's research projects are stakeholder driven for the purpose of researching areas of the most interest to…

The passage of a bond issue in support of school building construction or renovation can be one of the most difficult activities for a rural school district. The process of getting a bond passed requires a delicate mix of public relations, community education, and consensus building. In this chapter, a superintendent in a rural district describes…

To examine the role of arctic science in U.S. primary and secondary education, 58 teachers, researchers, and curriculum specialists met in a workshop in April 1997 in New Orleans. The workshop sought to provide a forum for development of K-12 educational materials investigating the Arctic and to bring current research activities into K-12…

A full service school is one that meets the most basic needs of children and their families. This book discusses how these needs can be met within the school setting in order to produce the key desired outcomes of increased learning and easier teaching. The book maintains that schools must think in nontraditional ways and that the voices of…

This digest briefly summarizes the literature on preparing educators to promote the success of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. Success in Native terms means not only academic achievement but also the development of the whole person. Spirituality and reciprocity (giving back to others) are vital to Indian learning. Teachers must…

School policymakers are beginning to understand that a considerable amount of resources are expended on student support services and various education support programs. These resources are allocated because of the widespread awareness that more is needed than the typical teacher can provide if some students are to succeed at school. At the same…

This videotape explores the ways four diverse after-school programs bring about successful linkages between after-school programs at the elementary or middle school level and the regular school day. The 40-minute videotape, designed to be viewed in its entirety or in 15-minute segments, focuses on individual schools and their innovations. The…

Based on the view that parents' role in their young children's learning must be viewed within the context of families' changing needs and the communities in which they live, this guide explores how staff in early years settings can further develop communication and contact with parents. The guide is designed for promoting greater understanding of…

Identifying the voluntary activities, programs, and services that children and families use during students' out-of-school time as primary supports, this self-study guide provides a framework for developing primary support programs that allow school-aged children and adolescents to develop physical, cognitive, social, and emotional skills. The…

This essay discusses the expanded role for two-year postsecondary institutions. It suggests that global competition and recent developments in new technologies are creating new conditions in the workplace and in the postsecondary educational system. These conditions are creating an increased demand for highly skilled workers, new management…

Public discussion of American education centers on crisis and decline. In response to these sentiments, citizens are fast abandoning all forms of local control over schools. Schools are controlled by increasingly distant experts. Some people think that this new direction is necessary because the schools have failed academically. On the contrary,…