The recruitment of respondents belonging to ethnic minorities poses important challenges in social and health research. This paper reflects on the enablers and barriers to recruitment that we encountered in our research work with persons belonging to ethnic minorities. Additionally, we applied the Matching Model of Recruitment, a theoretical…

This article describes a project involving teachers, parents, and university researchers in collaborations to support multilingual children's development and use of language. Strategies for fostering an inclusive climate included building on the interests and resources of the local community, involving community members in curriculum development,…

As slavery ended, Black Georgians developed unique solutions to the many problems they faced in attaining literacy and other educational goals. In terms of some of their earlier efforts, we describe a pattern in which local Black communities in Georgia sought to create and fund their own schools at primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. In…

Current research on the relationship between home, school, and community is reviewed and juxtaposed to perspectives on communities developed by scholars of families and child development, community developers, and urban sociologists. Research findings suggest the importance of learning more about the communities in which family involvement…

The Newton Polytechnic Center (NPC) at Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), is a cooperative effort among DMACC, Iowa State University (ISU), the City of Newton, the Newton Community School District, and Maytag Corporation to provide the community with innovative educational services. The NPC focuses on the development of…

From a synthesis of findings culled from a study that examined partnerships of families and communities with middle schools at multiple sites, researchers derived eight "lessons" that can help foster understanding of the nature of family-school partnerships in the middle grades. Researchers also elaborated implications of these lessons,…

This publication provides a snapshot of school health education in Wisconsin. The data were collected with two questionnaires, one for school principals on health education from an administrative perspective, and one for lead health teachers on health education from an instructional perspective. These two questionnaires were mailed in the spring…

Following an introduction purporting that the real reason for the failure of schools in the United States lies not in the lack of funding but in the inaction of the whole education community, this book suggests solutions including ways to enable teachers to do a better job, enrich a watered-down curriculum, challenge quick learners and reinforce…

A study identified the current structure and status of school-community partnership programs and their relationship to partnership program success. Data were drawn from a survey of all partnership directors who coordinate partnerships between multiple schools and multiple businesses (1,875) in K-12 public schools in the United States. Highlights…

This booklet tells of the 1987 struggle teachers and parents of a racially-integrated, working-class neighborhood of Milwaukee faced when the central administration of the Milwaukee Public Schools announced the closing of the neighborhood school. Parents and teachers dreamed of a decent school that children would want to attend, in an integrated…

This book suggests an approach to education that includes students' family members as valuable citizens in a community of learners which also includes students, teachers, and other members of the community at large. Part 1 examines current trends in parental involvement and the hidden assumptions on which many such programs are based. It is argued…

In 1997, America needs to launch a new Marshall Plan, equivalent to the original Marshall Plan that was established to help fund Europe's recovery from World War II. The new Marshall Plan must be directed at America's own urban public school systems. The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) is announcing a five-part framework for an Urban…

This book aims to help parents, community members, and educators find resources, design school options, and take action together to improve small rural schools in ways that meet community and student needs. Chapter 1 discusses the virtues of smallness, outlines basic assumptions about the role and nature of good education, examines the…

Drawing on J. Epstein's theory of overlapping spheres of influence (1991, 1995), this study explores the effects of teacher, family, and church support on the school-related attitudes, behaviors, and academic achievement of African American, urban adolescents. To achieve this objective, 826 students in an urban school district in the southeastern…

This paper reports on how teachers and principals in Maine schools perceive current and desired involvement of parents, community members, and students in school decision making. A survey assessed decision making in four basic areas: (1) mission, goals, and objectives; (2) curriculum, from specific learning outcomes to development of curriculum…