In 1981 Northland School Division (Northern Alberta) enrolled 2,500 pupils, 98% of them Native children. Northland's educational history shows "failure to provide even a minimally adequate level of educational services to its students." Three official inquiries indicate overall lack of purpose as chief impediment of progress; recommends…

This report explores the impact, through themes that emerged in interviews with 59 participating adolescents, of the Mentor/Advisor Program on students with or at risk of emotional disturbance. The Mentor/Advisor Program is implemented as part of the existing regular education high school curriculum and is designed to promote resiliency and school…

Randolph County Vocational Technical Center, Elkins, West Virginia, received a grant in 1997 for a project that was part of the High Schools That Work (HSTW) initiative to improve academic skills of career-bound students. The superintendent and faculty knew that improving achievement meant reaching out to the three home high schools to bring them…

Local educational reform efforts involving school systems, higher education, and the community must address educational pipelines through college and systemic deterrents like health, stress, and violence. A sense of moral imperative will bind collaborators in a new spirit of cohesiveness and community. Educational reform efforts in Birmingham…

This study examined community adults' conceptions of successful early adult outcomes for rural African American adolescents from 2 low-resource communities in the Deep South. Focus groups were conducted with parents, teachers, and community leaders. Parents also completed semistructured phone interviews. The focus groups identified 2 general types…

Concerns about middle level education began early in this century and will continue to be discussed by researchers and observers well into the next century. This digest examines the evolving characteristics and goals of middle level education, especially in terms of the most recent statements of purpose by major organizations in the field. Noting…

Taken from findings of federally financed ABC dropout prevention programs--ALAS (Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success), the Belief Academy, and Check & Connect--this report discusses the barriers and supports to effectively intervening and achieving school completion among high-risk students. The first section presents information…

Innovative practices in education and local development in Western Europe, Australia, and the United States are described and analyzed in this report. Part One reviews urban problems, their impact on education, and the need for a new approach. Part Two explores how schools and institutes of adult education can provide information about the local…

One of a series designed to help school arts support groups increase public commitment to their programs, this monograph addresses the concerns of local school boards in instituting or maintaining arts education. Content is divided into 10 sections that cover rationale for arts education, local problems of budgeting and cutbacks, obtaining backing…

This report describes implementation of a districtwide planning model in the Mesa, Arizona, Public Schools. Figures illustrate planning processes throughout the report. Intended as an implementive framework, the planning system's purposes are to assist decision making about resource allocation, program direction, progress measurement, and district…

This guide is intended to assist individuals involved in the development, administration, and delivery of volunteer-based community adult literacy programs. Addressed in the individual sections of the guide are the following topics: community (community assessment, learner population, program purposes, public awareness, and partnerships and…

A bilingual (Navajo-English) book from the Navajo Curriculum Center, on the Kinaalda, the Navajo girls' puberty ceremony, is intended for Navajo students at the secondary and junior college level and contains a section introducing the ceremony and sections on early life experiences and the initiation into womanhood. All text in the three sections…

Interviews conducted in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District sought answers for improving educational quality in the district, which has the highest dropout rate, the lowest holding power, and the lowest standardized test scores in Kentucky. Members of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development interviewed 155 people from 15 of…

Materials contained in the 16 volumes that make up the Rural America Series suggest practices through which rural schools can meet local community needs and realize their potential for career program delivery. This handbook is one of a subset of three program support function guides. Activities listed are designed to affect the indicators of…

This guide is designed to aid social studies classroom teachers develop and implement programs using the community as a social sciences laboratory. The document describes how to prepare a social profile of the community. Based upon the Colorado System-Based Social Science Project which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the study…