Parent-teacher associations can take advantage of resources offered by many other organizations to develop interesting and educational programs. A listing of several national and local groups to contact for information is given. (DF)

When the parents of school age children have significant relationships with their children's schoolmates, a particularly strong school-community relationship forms. Public schools in the United States are best organized to serve such functional, neighborhood communities, which are rapidly disappearing. School reorganization might renew community…

Parents and community members can work together with schools to enhance educational programs by serving as support persons and decision makers. Suggested approaches for PTA use in involving the community and parents are offered. (DF)

Noting that careful selection of assemblies can result in meaningful programs functioning as supplements to classroom learning and bridges to the community, this article describes one principal's assembly planning considerations and procedures. (MJL)

One hundred ninety-seven volunteers were surveyed to assess community development knowledge and skill gains and community involvement and community building behavior from participation in a Master Gardener program. Though the program was intended to disseminate horticultural information, it was found to have a serendipitous effect on community…

Music In Our Schools Month (March) provides an excellent opportunity for music teachers to reach out beyond the school to new audiences, to people of all ages. For example, teachers can take music groups to retirement homes or ask parents and grandparents to become chorus members or attend rehearsals. (RM)

The operation of a "Walkabout" program at a large urban magnet school is reviewed. After frequent exposure to supervised community experiences in regular humanities courses students may undertake independent, semester-long Walkabout projects, usually career-oriented. (MJL)

Teachers should draw from the resources of their economic, educational, governmental, and religious communities in teaching composition. (DD)

Two examples were given to illustrate the relationship of community education and teacher training. In the first case an educational foundations program was presented and in the second the organizational structure of a secondary methods course was outlined. (Author/RK)

The history and practices of the Hutterite communal society in America are outlined. Every Hutterite child attends a German school for 101/2 hours per week. Major emphasis is on skills of reading and writing German, and the language serves to unite the group in its spiritual and cultural heritage. (CHK)

This guide provides teachers with a nine-step process to empower students to plan and implement civic participation projects in their community. The guide lists the materials students need and outlines the procedures for guiding students in the civic action project. It suggests that the teacher: (1) decide on a project in advance; (2) introduce…

Despite its growing prominence as a political reform strategy, it is still unclear whether deliberation, with its emphasis on an inclusive process where citizens and politicians listen to each other and are open to persuasion, is a feasible strategy for engaging citizens in public education. This paper explores the feasibility of practical…

School board members have long recognized the importance of involving parents and the community in the public schools. Yet, there has never been a greater gap between school and community, partly because almost 70 percent of adults do not have any school-age children, and partly because the public seems to want a far more active relationship with…

This study evaluated an innovative family literacy program in Bullitt County, KY, USA. Data sources included attendance sign-in sheets, pre- and post TABE test scores, GED success, gender, age, and ethnicity, and grant applications. The evidence suggested that since 1998, the program increasingly attracted proportionally more males, GED completion…

This paper describes a qualitative study of seven alternative democratic program (ADP) students of a public high school in a suburb of a major city. The purpose of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how students in ADP reflect upon their transitions to become active members of the ADP community over time. The students were…