The Kalamazoo Public Library recently won an election that increased local library tax support from 2.8074 mills to 4 mills. Knowing why the election was being held, when information on the issue(s) would be communicated to voters, and how the information would be disseminated contributed to its success. The funding provides for renovations, a new…

Offers reflections and accounts of personal experiences regarding the complexities of the relationship between early childhood education and the public schools. Also considers the history of this relationship. (LB)

Discusses the history of U.S. community service programs and asserts that the potential benefits for students include increased self-esteem, enhanced motivation and interest in school, improved academic achievement, and increased social responsibility. Includes a list of six curriculum resources and a bibliography. (CFR)

Minnesota Heart Health Program involved a project to reduce cardiovascular disease via school-based physical activity and health promotion. Researchers took seven annual waves of measurements from sixth graders in intervention and control communities. Results indicate school behavioral education together with community strategies can produce…

Asserts that community colleges have recreated themselves over the last 100 years in response to the changing American economy. Explains that the new need for community colleges to fulfill the local communities' economic needs calls for renewed civic participation in the colleges. Describes Maricopa Community College District's Civic Participation…

Students from an Albany (New York) free school spent a week repairing storm damage in a Puerto Rican village with a rich history of community solidarity. The students learned how good it feels to help others and the power of cooperation. They also encountered another culture, discovered they could cope with challenge, and experienced appreciation…

This guide is the second monograph in the "Guidelines for Effective Practice" series commissioned by the Best Practices Project of the Family Resource which meets the need for better definition and articulation of what constitutes best practice in family support programs. This guide describes the definition, key characteristics, and…

These three brochures are short guides to show how parents, schools, and communities can support family involvement in education and help build a better educational environment. Noting that communities that support schools and families are better places to live, work, and learn, The "Join Together for Kids" brochure provides information…

The potential of community education for building partnerships that help schools become the active agents for addressing social change is discussed in the five papers that make up this report. The first paper, by Donna Amstutz, presents an overview of the purposes and models of community education. Next, a paper by Monica Beglau discusses forms of…

States are in the leadership position to effect pervasive and comprehensive changes needed in the educational system. There exist five key dimensions for analyzing initiatives resulting in systemic changes: (1) infusiveness, building upon existing knowledge; (2) pervasiveness, effecting improvements in all key components of the system, including…

This study demonstrates that built environment education fits well into the existing curricula, meets objectives, and provides new directions for assessment in the classroom. The study examines what was happening in those classrooms using CUBE-produced curriculum materials. Sample assessment methods are provided for four differing educational…

Strategies for developing school/community collaboration to solve the problems facing America's youth are presented in this booklet. Part I, section 1 reviews the conditions that place students at risk, conditions engendered by changes in the family and ethnic distribution and insufficient spending for education. The second section of part I…

This paper reports on the restructuring efforts and activities undertaken in Virginia Beach from 1991 to 1994. The district has begun a massive effort to downsize, reorganize, and restructure the organization to focus on shared decision making and student performance. A special effort has been made to build coalitions among employees, with the…

A study assessed the role of program coordination in enhancing Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program effectiveness and efficiency. Information was collected through a review of more than 100 reports on JTPA coordination, telephone interviews with staff from 60 JTPA coordination projects, and case studies of nine of the coordination projects.…

The history and goals of the League of Schools Reaching Out, a national program of the Institute for Responsive Education (IRE), is described in this report. The league is IRE's principal national strategy to show how family/community/school partnerships can contribute to school restructuring aimed at increasing the academic and social success of…