Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on first 10, then seven sites. It…

In February of 2007, 30 youth aged 13-18 assembled at the Jacksonville Children's Commission (JCC) to research and discuss issues in their communities and worldwide children's rights. With facilitation, the youth established key issues that they wanted to address with the adults in their lives, with more effective communication with parents and…

Children with activity limitations are often referred to as having special needs, or being disabled or differently-abled. This simply means that they are unable to participate fully in age-appropriate activities because of chronic physical, mental, emotional or behavioral conditions. This brief examines the role of afterschool programs in…

The "International Society for the Social Studies (ISSS) Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. The following papers are included in the 2015 proceedings: (1) Local History and Local Culture at the Core of Elementary Social Studies Curriculum (C.…

The focus on the achievement gap and growing debate about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization have sparked increased recognition that schools alone cannot meet the learning needs of American children. There is growing interest at all levels in identifying non-school supports and opportunities that both complement learning in schools and…

Graduation and dropout rates are the center of the conversation about high school reform, with President Obama and the U.S. Department of Education leading the charge to boost high school and college graduation rates among our nation's students in the next ten years. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach to keeping teens in school and…

Community and family involvement in schools is a well-documented antecedent to student success; yet, educators often find it challenging to increase involvement with parents and members of diverse communities. One solution is to use information and communication technology (ICT) as a bridge between schools, families, and the community. This…

On paper, Mariella Castillo's family makes her likelier than other students to drop out of college. Her mother left school after the fifth grade, and her father has only a middle-school education. Her parents speak little English, and Castillo, who was born in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, spoke her first words in Spanish. Numerous studies…

This article describes a take-home literacy project in which kindergartners took home books, a stuffed animal, a camera, and a shared writing activity to complete with their families. The children later shared their writing and experiences in school. The resulting written responses and photographs depicted a level of involvement with the families…

This report describes the design and implementation of the three interventions tested in Project Upgrade, one of four experiments conducted as part of the Evaluation of Child Care Subsidy Strategies. The evaluation was a multi-site, multi-year effort to determine whether and how different child care subsidy policies and procedures and quality…

By adopting the Smart School Snacks program, administrators and teachers at the Nova Southeastern University (NSU) preschool center have prompted a healthy change in attitude about snacks. Simple healthy snacks have become the norm at the center and are welcomed by children and families alike. Family involvement is a critical part of the program.…

Family intervention is shifting from an informal alternative in treatment of juvenile offenders to a formal adjudicatory option. The politically expedient move was not based on conclusive empirical data. Without evaluation of family intervention strategies, such strategies are likely to proliferate with little control over possible unfortunate…

The purpose of this study was to identify the number of Head Start enrollees in three selected sites who were in foster care during or after their Head Start experience. The study also examined the role of the Head Start Program in strengthening families in order to prevent separation. Reviews were conducted of public agencies' records of 50…

This conference paper discusses the results of a study on the effectiveness of Florida's multidisciplinary Family Service Planning Teams (FSPT). The FSPTs were developed to create holistic service plans to enable children with emotional disabilities to live in the community and be successful in school. The FSPTs have become the focus of service…

Four aspects of 478 residential care facilities for children and youth in Flordia, Wisconsin, and New Jersey were examined. In addition, GAO looked at records of 539 children to illuminate the issue of how individuals are placed in residential care. Aspects examined were: (1) characteristics of residential facilities; (2) funding sources for these…