This article describes Garden Mosaics, a program funded by the National Science Foundation. Garden Mosaics combines science learning with intergenerational mentoring, multicultural understanding, and community service. The program's mission is "connecting youth and elders to explore the mosaics of plants, people, and cultures in gardens, to learn…

This article describes the Youth Network for Healthy Communities (YNHC). YNHC is a teacher-driven project in Washington State. Through YNHC, students research environmental health issues in their communities and present their findings to other students throughout the state via videoconferencing. YNHC focuses on environmental health science in the…

The fates of schools are increasingly intertwined. What leaders do in one school necessarily affects the fortunes of students and teachers in other schools around them. Exemplary or high-profile institutions draw the most outstanding teachers and leaders, draining them away from other schools that, in time, become low-status places in which…

'Olelo Community Television has served the O'ahu community for over 16 years. It offers community members training in television production, and it provides access to Oceanic Cable channels 52 through 56--the five cable channels that 'Olelo currently manages. 'Olelo is a non-profit, public, educational and government (PEG) access organization that…

This article argues that school reform initiatives - particularly those aiming at high schools -- have greater chances of staying made when the community actively participates as an empowered change agent. This historical analysis of the Mexican American parent community involvement in the Salinas high school district, in California, provides the…

John Tyler Community College in Chester, Virginia, began a program in architecture and building construction in fall 2003 to meet the needs of the Hispanic community--a much neglected but rapidly growing segment of the regional population. After first hiring a Hispanic director (Mr. Jorge Mora), a program was developed that heavily involved the…

The planning and urban design of a new University of California campus reveals the principle issues and guiding values that will shape the 21st-century campus. (Contains 18 figures.)

This article describes educational reform developed over a 10-year period in California's Lemon Grove School District, which resulted in a steady and remarkable upward shift in achievement for the students of this multicultural district just outside San Diego. Six elements of literacy reform emerged as the most significant factors affecting…

This article presents a control group study of the influence of a partnership-centered, community-based learning program on students' academic writing. The improved writing of first-year students in the Chicago Civic Leadership Certificate Program (CCLCP), we argue, results from the deeply situated learning that took place in the context of…

How do people help youth develop ethics in this complex world? What do they know about how young people think about right and wrong? Where and when are the teachable moments? One community in the southwestern United States decided to ask youth about their ideas, values, behavior, and aspirations--in essence, put themselves in the shoes of the…

This article describes a school-wide arts education project that incorporates an interdisciplinary approach involving an Australian university, the Singapore Ministry of Education, the Singapore National Arts Council, a community music association, and a local primary school. The Project engages young school children with Nanyin music, an ancient…

In this article, the authors describe an innovative university-based project that connected graduate-level, preservice, and beginning teachers enrolled in a curriculum class for secondary and elementary teaching certification with a community-based war museum memorial and educational center. The course required these teachers to construct units on…

The project described in this paper investigated the needs and concerns identified by parents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as their children started school in Sydney, Australia. Six groups of parents from Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Samoan, Turkish and Vietnamese language backgrounds were interviewed about what was…

This multi-site case study examined the relationships and interactions among school professionals, parents, and a faith-based institution striving to create viable learning communities in the Texas Borderlands. Through a school-community partnership known as the Texas Alliance School Initiative, two sample schools collaborated with the El Paso…

Colleges and universities are growing, and they need new facilities to accommodate this growth. Whether it's space for new academic classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, research centers, business incubators, or space for retail and services necessary for a campus to thrive, college and university business officers are involved in decision-making…