Schools participating in the League of Schools Reaching Out, a national reform project, offer multiple examples of practices to increase family and community involvement. These numerous efforts exist without benefit of a clear, comprehensive, and supportive policy. Developing such a system must be a national priority. (SLD)

Discusses the growing use of mediation in U.S. juvenile justice. Identifies the goals of youth mediation programs. Describes prevention and intervention program models and school, parent-child, victim-juvenile offender, and youth corrections mediation efforts. Argues that communities must be proactive in building citizen participation and forming…

America is too diverse and teachers, parents, and community members are too skeptical to buy a one-size-fits-all curriculum. Four goals should drive reform: education for a changing economy, for continuing learning, for citizenship, and for personal growth and health. Governments, colleges, businesses, and the media have important supportive…

Compares learnings reported by novice teachers in conventional, stateside student teaching assignments and learnings reported by students who did student teaching overseas. Overseas participants acquired more learnings than did their counterparts, exhibited broader perspectives in the content of their learnings, and acknowledged a greater variety…

Provides the following explanations for the failure of drug education programs: (1) programs send confusing and dangerous messages; (2) the power of the media negates almost totally everything programs try to accomplish; and (3) drug education efforts are fragmented. Discusses how to correct these problems. (JS)

School boards often must try to hammer together a consensus on difficult issues. A Colorado school district handled the issue of sex education by using the tools of democracy. The school board's role was to broker the dialog, to clarify community values, and to provide a detailed challenge process for citizens who disagree with the board's…

Asserts that the field of moral and values education lacks a comprehensive theory. Focuses on two neglected, but essential, dimensions: (1) community, or widening circles of belonging and group identification; and (2) activity, including formal and informal education in the school as well as youth organizations and nonschool activities. (CFR)

Experiences of parent-teacher action research teams established by eight schools that are members of the League of Schools Reaching Out illustrate that, given patience, hard work, supportive leadership, and informed facilitation, the two streams of parent and teacher empowerment can come together for academic achievement. (SLD)

Examines the pattern of lethal violence among adolescent urban youth, and considers theoretical explanations for homicidal violence. Implications for community involvement and intervention are discussed. African Americans and other urban ethnic groups must recognize the violence in their communities and develop a clear and unified strategy to…

Community revitalization efforts based on community partnerships between educators, civic leaders, local employers, entrepreneurs, and parents are gaining momentum. Local schools play a leading role in many of these. Discusses three models of school/community interaction, how relationships build social capital, mapping community assets, getting…

Winning essays on rural school/community cooperation written by elementary, middle, and high school students recommend community volunteering to raise money, improve school appearance, and help with student supervision; building on the strengths of rural life; revitalizing rural communities through economic development; increased experiential…

An interview with Public Agenda's vice president examines what Public Agenda's research has determined about: attitudes of various groups toward school reform; students' yearning for discipline and standards; the public's perspective of the value of teachers; the public's desire for immediate improvement; the public's engagement in the change…

Culturally appropriate means of conducting language research among American Indians is critical for maintaining cooperation and for increasing the depth of data collected. The apprentice-elder and fictive kinship models used in research with two Siouan-speaking tribes are discussed, as well as their practical applications, the importance of…

Describes the process evaluation of facilitator training for a risk-reduction program that trained college students and community volunteers to teach middle school students. Examination of facilitator characteristics and training, curriculum implementation, and use of the model to promote critical thinking found that most facilitators considered…

In rural Alleghany County (North Carolina), one of the state's seven "cyber campuses" provides an expanded curriculum and advanced placement college courses to high school students and an array of community college and 4-year college courses to residents, who otherwise would be deterred from further education by their isolated location.…