The economy has school districts in a stranglehold. But there is a way out. Despite beliefs to the contrary, the grant money pot has not dried up. The author's book "Successful Grant Writing for School Leaders: 10 Easy Steps" shares strategies and success stories from some of his own 30 school grants and from school districts small and…

This paper explores the use of systems theory to inform the mainstreaming of sustainability in a university's functions as it responds to sustainable development challenges in its local context. Offering a case study of Rhodes University, the paper shows how the use of systems models and concepts, underpinned by a critical realist ontology and an…

This study investigated the effect of electronic communication has on parent's involvement with their high school child's education. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) specifically requires that schools find ways to increase parental involvement; this requirement stemmed from evidence that involvement tends to decline as the students…

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a nonprofit national association representing more than 2,500 individual members as well as 685 graduate and undergraduate programs of professional social work education. Founded in 1952, this partnership of educational and professional institutions, social welfare agencies, and private citizens is…

Charter schools have been studied from numerous perspectives. One topic that remains under-researched, however, is charter school leadership. Therefore, we examine how charter administrators define their leadership roles and their ability to lead. Results indicate that charter principals see three primary functions in their leadership--building…

Internships and similar applied opportunities have long been valued for providing students with opportunities for practical experience, career preparation, and personal growth. The need for applied experiences in gerontology and geriatrics is particularly salient. Creating and sustaining effective internship experiences, however, requires careful…

Community is important to many institutions of higher learning, but it is very difficult to imagine Berea College disconnected from its primary community--the Appalachian region. Since its mid-nineteenth-century beginning as a radical experiment in interracial education and coeducation centered in community, the college has been dedicated to…

The author describes what happened when he and his students spent a day with Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." By reentering the novel and moving along with it, the students pushed at or pushed away some academic boundaries, and re-discovered the fun and power of reading.

Despite the fact that universities and their various communities have much to offer and much to gain from partnering, the number of submissions for the Carnegie elective Community Engagement Classification suggests that partnerships are not ubiquitous in higher education. This is not surprising. Creating a productive, healthy, and sustainable…

The traditional question inferred by attention to institutionalization is, "Will it last?" or "Will it die out when there is a new leader or when the grant ends?" In the case of community engagement, attention to institutionalization reveals a more complex portrait of organizational change that includes a critical reflection on not only the…

Graduate students education is falling short of what the twenty-first century demands from its next generation of leaders; indeed, many educational leaders and scholars have called for graduate education to include richer, more relevant experiences (Stanton & Wagner, 2006; Stewart, 2010; Walker, Jones, Bueschel, & Hutchings, 2008). At the…

After school programs offer an important avenue for supplementing educational opportunities. In California, the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program creates incentives for locally driven after school programs to partner with schools and communities in providing academic support and safe, constructive alternatives for elementary and…

The most successful school leaders are those who have been able to transform their schools into centers of deep and ongoing learning by managing relationships (Kaser & Halbert, 2009). Consequently, strong levels of trust are preconditions for successful school improvement initiative. Research confirms that no cooperation strategy works in high…

Students learn best when their physical, mental, emotional, and other needs are met, but schools rarely have the time and resources available to meet those needs. If schools can find a way to engage families and communities, students are more likely to succeed. But how? One answer is the community schools strategy. A community school has a set of…

For the past two years, eighth graders at Lincoln Middle School have been participating in the STEMester of Service program, which uses the science, math, and language arts curricula to help students improve the environment. More than 70% of Lincoln students receive free and reduced-price lunch, and the school is diverse because it hosts the…