At a March 2000 meeting, Australia's state, territory, and commonwealth ministers of education committed to a set of principles and standards for more culturally inclusive schooling in the 21st century. Building on a range of policy statements developed over the last decade, these principles and standards are described in terms of social justice…

These papers were presented at a 1999 conference that examined expert, practitioner, and community based knowledge and perceptions about factors that facilitate or inhibit successful multilevel partnerships to improve education and other important results for children and families by connecting collaborative services with education reform efforts.…

Current theory and law support a comprehensive model of school reform. The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program suggests that changes in isolated parts of a system may not be linked to increases in overall achievement. A comprehensive reform program must synthesize nine essential components to improve the whole system across all the…

This book examines indigenous education in South America, focusing on the development of intercultural education and on an ethnographic study of educational processes and change among the Arakmbut people of the Peruvian Amazon. The Arakmbut are one of seven Harakmbut-speaking peoples who live in the Department of Madre de Dios in southeastern…

A study examined the impact of high school vocational education and training (VET) courses on small, rural communities in Tasmania (Australia). Data were gathered from site visits and interviews with school principals, VET coordinators, and VET students from three rural Tasmanian high schools. Findings show that the programs met the immediate…

Educational attainment for rural African Americans is lower than that of urban African Americans or rural Whites. The African American Church has always had a strong role in providing educational opportunities for African American children and in community activism in general. This digest discusses partnering with rural African American churches…

This paper contains summaries of research projects of three graduate students participating in the Multicultural Mental Health Training Program at the University of South Florida's Florida Mental Health Institutes. The students' work involved the development of evaluation or research projects with ethnically diverse minority communities. The first…

A conference brought together the leaders of the 11 projects funded by the National Science Foundation's Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) to reflect upon their efforts to improve mathematics and science education in poor rural communities. A variety of themes emerged. The RSI projects serve small, rural communities suffering from decades of…

The digital divide remains a formidable issue in rural areas where the only broadband access to the Internet may be at public schools or city governments. As the only locations in rural areas with adequate technological resources, schools, libraries, health facilities, and agricultural extension facilities can be places where citizens learn about…

Students in a poor, rural county in South Carolina worked with their community to build a new volunteer fire station, enabling many residents to get fire insurance. The project enabled students to see the relevance of education and to be seen as solutions to problems rather than as problems, generated enthusiasm among students toward the community…

This Spring 2002 issue of the occasional paper, CSR Connection, reports on information that builds the capacity of schools to raise the academic achievement of all students. The success of English language learners and Native American students in U.S. public schools has been, and continues to be, impeded by deep "disconnects" between schools and…

This brief is designed to promote collaborative leadership in the work of transforming low performing urban schools into successful schools. The brief is organized into several topics, which include framing the challenge (concentrated disadvantage, concentration effects, and savage inequalities); encouraging educators and partners to promote the…

This book describes how administrators, teachers, and students in three high schools have worked to improve their schools. The schools; a suburban vocational-technical school, an urban school for immigrant English-language learners, and an urban second-chance school for students who have failed elsewhere. All operate as, what the books calls,…

This publication summarizes the proceedings of a Project FORUM conference that examined the needs of homeless children and youth with disabilities. The summarized presentations address the definition of homelessness, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, services for homeless students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education…

This paper describes a community service program in Singapore that involves voluntary mentoring, focusing on its impact upon adolescent girls. The paper highlights some of the ways in which community service providers come together to exchange ideas and practices to build up the social and emotional capacities of adolescent girls. After discussing…