Describes a pilot mentoring program that involved 19 college students working with preadolescent and adolescent at-risk Hispanic youth in a Texas border city. The program, which consisted of 10 weekly classes in citizenship awareness and community participation and involvement, focused on dropout prevention and preparation for citizenship. (SLD)

Citizen participation in vocational education has two broad objectives: the development of individuals to the limit of their capacity, and the development of the community to improve the quality of life. Argues for a balance among administrators, school boards, and community participants based upon common interests, goals, and resources. (AF)

Examines five challenges confronting health educators in planning effective AIDS education for youth: gaining community support; determining program placement, scope and content; meeting educational needs of minority, high-risk youth; focusing on the real needs of youth; and incorporating AIDS education in school as part of comprehensive health…

Effective, long-term dropout prevention will not occur without broad-based, indepth, and ongoing staff development that changes educators' behavior toward at-risk students. Staff development planners should recognize that students respond not to programs but to individualized, personally delivered solutions and assistance promoting youngsters'…

Describes the social studies program at Asheboro High School (North Carolina). Focuses on community involvement and support including parents, teachers, and business community and government leaders. Seeks to help students to learn, adapt, and cope with the world whether they go on to college or enter the work force immediately after graduation.…

Describes a structured-experiences workshop in which members of the Upper Nicola Band (Okanagan) defined Indian control of Indian education for their own community, and formulated their educational philosophy, goals, and action plans. Provides background on Canadian federal educational policies and the history of education for the Upper Nicola.…

Advocates interorganizational communication between church, fraternal, and cultural organizations to recruit illiterate adults to rural community colleges. Discusses a recruitment strategy at Carteret Community College (North Carolina) which included research on employee participation in community organizations and informal socials with leaders of…

U.S. education faces productivity and efficiency crisis. Because local, state, federal budgets are limited, schools must accomplish more with less. Few U.S. youngsters see themselves as workers or their school performance as greatly affecting later life. Teacher and student expectations are unreasonably low. Because schools cannot provide social…

Although inclusiveness is the U.S. school system's strongest feature, more is seldom better. This article recommends raising standards and expectations, focusing on outcomes, stressing effort over ability and teacher competence over seniority, individualizing instruction, breaking the age/grade link, expanding year-round learning and early…

Describes how the Civic Achievement Award Program, a new initiative of the Close Up Foundation, combines reading, writing, research, and community service in teaching citizenship to fifth through eighth grade students. (PRA)

Describes the Parent-Teacher Action Research Project, a multisite collaborative action research project involving eight schools that are part of the national reform network, the League of Schools Reaching Out. In project schools, teams of parents, teachers, and, in some cases, principals and students collaborate on family-school-community…

Four elementary schools and two local organizations in Seattle's South End collaborated to improve student performance, strengthen the community, and create a model for school reform. Programs included day care, one-on-one reading workshops, volunteer mentors, community events, adult education, and writing workshops. Presents four tips for…

Describes one Wisconsin school district's use of continuous quality improvement (CQI), coupled with community involvement, to plan and pass a referendum for a new K-8 school. Fourteen CQI principles used to successfully develop and drive a community-wide effort in school planning are highlighted and discussed. (GR)

Describes the most significant educational reform efforts of the past two decades that have been premised primarily either on professionalism or greater community inclusion, illustrating some contemporary reforms that embody both professionalism and community in their strategies for school change, and examining themes needing further attention in…

Discusses how staff development is different in standards-based systems, describing ways to ensure that systems have the capacity for growth and development based on the standards, explaining configuration maps, and presenting six components of building capacity for standards-based reform: covenants; staff and community involvement; curriculum,…