Discusses the work of the Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children's Learning related to the theory of overlapping spheres of influence and the framework of six major types of involvement. Summarizes the results of center studies that could help schools build better programs of partnership. (JOW)

The Educational and Community Change (ECC) Project is designed to encourage teachers and principals to reexamine how children learn and how teachers teach. Three features guide the community-school connection: recognition that children know something; use of the community context as the text of the curriculum; and the belief that democratic…

Describes eight years of efforts converting the University of South Carolina Spartanburg from being a "regional" to a "metropolitan" university, including the stages of development of its community, Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, as an internationalized metropolitan area. Describes ensuing university goals in campus…

Explores why technology has an optimal role to play in stimulating vibrant exchange and keeping universities poised between the traditional monastery world of careful reflection and the modern marketplace world of dynamic give-and-take. Offers examples of information technology functioning in this way. (EV)

Explains how the concept of reciprocity in an arts-education model can radically change relations between universities and their surrounding communities. Describes the experiences of co-founding a Reciprocal University Arts Program by California State University Monterey Bay and local community groups, addressing the role of the arts, service…

Offers several research-based recommendations for sustaining small high schools in rural communities. For example, work with community members to establish a local endowment for the high school. (PKP)

Oklahoma has a long tradition of partnering with the community and its career-tech system is viewed as the economic development arm of the Oklahoma Public School system. A partnership between the Tri County Technology Center and University of Oklahoma, for example, involves dental hygiene students in providing oral health care for poor rural…

Presents an interview with Kit Dunn, a specialist in school district information services, about the importance of communication with the community, especially concerning school bond referenda. (EV)

Describes an experimental Young Author's conference for secondary school students. Notes that bringing together young writers and professional authors provides incentive for writing, as well as an authentic audience and purpose. (RS)

When a group of concerned citizens placed the sole bid on the auctioned campus of a closing college, the school rejected it as inadequate despite uncertainty about further prospective buyers. (MSE)

Traces the history of Evening Colleges in New South Wales back to the Night Schools of 1864. Describes the nature and scope of the present-day colleges and the impact of community-based management on their development and ability to respond to the learning needs of the communities they serve. (JOW)

Explains how resources of various settings located in one geographic area of North Carolina were linked in attempt to resolve educational problems. Uses concept of collegium as mechanism for working together to present assumptions governing these efforts. Discusses rationale for successes and failures, and offers suggestions about how such…

Relates how bringing people from the community into a high school remedial reading class made the connection between the real world and student interests and was the key to motivating the class to read. (SR)

Rural rejuvenation projects in 1930s West Virginia and Kentucky and the 1970s Parkway Project in Philadelphia provide lessons for community education about using rich community resources. Community participation develops ownership, school learning reinforces real-world experiences, and community involvement can create catalysts for change. (SK)