In rural areas the responsibility for good school-community relations rests with the principal, who must develop a strategy for community relations, understand the people of the community and their values, and know their formal and informal leaders. School principals can use various strategies to increase community involvement. They can simply…

Acknowledging children's need for informal conversation, the staff of an eastern elementary school began a reading incentive program to encourage children to read for fun and to increase their leisure by providing a listening ear while they told someone about the books they had read. Adult volunteers were recruited to listen to children's…

The major findings of a seminar on "Effective Schools," sponsored by the Seattle School Board and conducted in 1982, are presented in this report. In the first four sections, research on effective schools is broadly reviewed, and then a definition is offered: an effective school is one where all students master the basic skills, seek…

Due to enrollment decline, reductions in federal support, and declining state support because of a constricted economy, growing inflation, expanding government and legal requirements, and the loss of public confidence in education, the Portland School District (Oregon) developed a short-term contingency budget planning process in fiscal 1980-81 to…

A survey of 94 school boards across Canada provided information on recent developments in board handling of community relations programs. This report discussing the survey findings first notes that 85 percent of the surveyed boards expressed a need to find new, more effective strategies. The second part of the report explores methods used by…

In July 1979, the countywide Adult Basic Education (ABE) Program at Rio Salado Community College (RSCC) was established to provide adult basic education services to Maricopa County (Arizona) residents. Between 1979 and 1987, enrollments rose from 729 students to more than 5,700 students. A major contributing factor to the on-going growth lies in…

This report summarizes selected successful experiences of the Participation and Equity Programme (PEP) in Western Australian government schools from 1984 to 1986. The strategy of the PEP was to first promote increased awareness of selected educational issues, and then to support schools in their responses to locally determined educational needs.…

The future of America's students and teachers is a crucial challenge. Responding to this challenge, Massachusetts in 1985 enacted Chapter 188, the Public School Improvement Act, which establishes and implements a system for testing and evaluating school and student performance. Since Chapter 188 was implemented, Massachusetts schools have improved…

This paper discusses dropout prevention and "Forward in the Fifth," an innovative program for school development in the Fifth Congressional District of southern Kentucky. The program focused on formation of a support group that could give school systems sustained financial and educational support from community and business leaders.…

This profile summarizes the responses of 20 managers of rural business incubators, reporting on their operations, entry and exit policies, facility promotion, service arrangements and economic development outcomes. Incubators assist small businesses in the early stages of growth by providing them with rental space, shared services, management and…

Arguing that the provision of child care services is consistent with the role of the community college, this paper provides an overview of the current demand for and delivery of child care services and briefly discusses ways in which community colleges can assist in the development and provision of consumer-oriented, high-quality child care.…

In view of the national attention that has recently been brought to public school improvement, a list of suggestions is presented in the form of leading questions to guide communities in assessing the quality of their local schools and in promoting beneficial change. The evaluative questions touch on a wide range of issues: school financing…

The 1981 report describes current activities, publications and films, sources of financial support, and organizational overview of the University for Man (UFM), founded in 1967 in Manhattan, Kansas, on the concept of citizens learning from each other and involving themselves to affect their community. The organization is divided into three program…

During 1982-83, University for Man (UFM) focused on three areas: the Manhattan, Kansas, community where over 1,000 course programs and community service projects, led by more than 1,000 volunteers ranging in age from 8 to 80, involved over 10,000 participants; the state of Kansas where UFM served 46 communities with rural development/community…

Designed for policy makers and health education professionals, this paper presents a rationale and strategies for adapting health education to meet the needs of developing nations. Emphasis is placed on the need for health promotion rather than prescriptive health education. Section A, the first of two main sections, discusses perceptions of…