This resource book provides hands-on guidelines for accelerating community efforts to achieve the National Education Goals. It contains: (1) a guide to goals and standards, including an overview of the National Education Goals and the movement for standards-based reform; (2) a community organizing guide, which describes a step-by-step process for…

Multiage education involves placing children of different ages, abilities, and emotional maturity in the same classroom. Research indicates that heterogeneous grouping promotes cognitive and social growth, reduces antisocial behavior, and facilitates the use of research-based, developmentally appropriate instructional practices. Because multiage…

This paper describes one effort to establish a collaborative around the issues of at-risk youth. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's New Futures Initiative was an attempt to build formal structures of collaboration among public and private organizations to address at-risk youth. Data were gathered over 5 years from the six cities in which the program…

Sample materials drawn from the Allegheny Conference Education Fund's small grants for teachers program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are provided. The program is described as one which provides small grants (approximately $500) to help teachers explore new techniques and develop innovative educational projects. Materials used to publicize the…

A program which recognizes oustanding scholastic achievement of students in grades 4-8 is described. The program is financed by contributions from local businesses. An overview of the program provides details on the successful efforts to obtain business sponsors along with a letter which solicits contributions and a program sponsor form. A booklet…

This information packet contains 14 articles reprinted from various books and journals. Establishing and enriching school-community ties in small schools is the theme for this "Information Exchange Packet," the sixth in a series developed for Small Schools Network members. The articles and their authors are: "Skills in Building…

Issues related to decentralization, with a focus on community involvement, are discussed in this paper. The 20th-century Indonesian experience is analyzed to illustrate the process by which a national administrative reform policy develops, and to identify contributing and inhibiting factors relating to the implementation of decentralization. The…

The environment or climate of a school is determined by more than its physical characteristics. Among the other factors affecting school environment are the school's philosophy, students, communications, teachers, discipline, parents, support services, issuance of awards, and special programs. A positive school environment can be fostered by…

The successes and failures of a small private college in internationalizing its business curriculum are discussed. The college's condition of severely constrained resources is outlined, and the college's program development approach of sharing resources with other institutions is described. A consortium of local institutions was created to…

The rural work ethic, a strong sense of community togetherness, and the absence of class distinction help rural schools avoid the politics that often stand in the way of education in larger urban and suburban schools. Factors contributing to successful schools include clear goals, good principals who know how to motivate faculty, faculty who know…

This module was developed to help preservice and inservice teachers understand the rationale behind the community education movement, its development in North Carolina, and how to infuse at least one of its components (use of community resources) into classroom instruction. The module consists of three units. The first unit is designed to help…

The Puente Project is a statewide program that helps Mexican American/Latino community college students in California achieve their academic goals. Puente's goals are to reduce the number of Mexican American/Latino community college students who drop out of school and increase the number who transfer to four-year institutions. To meet these goals,…

A school board member describes how the use of four elements helped the board win public support for a referendum that was strongly opposed by an organized, respected committee: (1) Use of the media; rather than inviting press coverage of arguments by holding large public meetings, the board held numerous small, informative meetings. In this…

The paper discusses cultural commonality and variability considerations of the Native American populations served by the Federation of Rocky Mountain States Educational Technical Development (ETD) Project. Section I explores important factors to consider when setting up an Early Childhood Development program module for Indian people, such as…

The purpose of this paper is to review the relative contribution of selected school-related variables to the output of the Arkansas public schools, as measured by Science Reading Associates (SRA) achievement test scores. Multiple step-wise regression and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. The most important finding was that very…