We define community education as organized lifelong learning through voluntary participation in collective efforts to critically address both individual and community needs. Community education has roots in European folk schools, United States participatory democracy, and Latin American "popular education." Community education developed…

We present a case study of a multi-year, academic civic engagement (ACE) collaboration in a computer science capstone course. ACE projects in computer science provide an avenue for students to apply software development concepts to real-world projects with actual clients, and can offer meaningful engagement with ethical issues. The typical…

This case study attempts to better understand the nuances of charter school impact by documenting the story of the Board of La Escuela Freire (the Board), a group attempting to open a democratic, social justice charter school in Santa Ana, California. In asking the question: "What has been the development process of La Escuela Freire?",…

The purpose of this study was to identify actual and perceived barriers and benefits of engaging in service-learning and volunteering activities as identified from the unique perspective of international students. Through the identification of barriers and benefits, we can provide more informed training to international students and provide a…

HIV continues to significantly impact the health of communities, particularly affecting racially and ethnically diverse men who have sex with men and transgender women. In response, health departments often fund a number of community organizations to provide each of these subgroups with comprehensive and culturally responsive services. To this…

Teachers who organize for educational equity and social justice generally do so through teacher-led professional networks. Community organizations (COs) that seek to support such teacher leaders can face challenges in working with their organic and often horizontally organized networks. This article examines three case studies of COs that…

In recent years heightened attention has been directed towards the connections between schooling and local communities in sub-Saharan Africa. While community participation in school management has been emphasized as a strategy to promote sustainable development and improve quality education in sub-Saharan Africa, in practice this strategy has…

In this study, we explored how science teacher candidates construct ideas about science teaching and learning in the context of partnerships with urban community-based organizations. We used a case study design focusing on a group of 10 preservice teachers' participation in educational programming that focused on environmental racism and connected…

The third case study from the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development discusses the role community partners can play in supporting children's learning in collaboration with schools. "School-Community Partnerships: Joining Forces to Support the Learning and Development of All Students" cites key…

Teachers' unions and community organizing emerged out of shared collective struggles for social justice in the United States in the twentieth century. Beyond broad general aspirations for a better society, however, their interests and tactics have not always been compatible. This interpretive essay revisits three recent case studies of interaction…

Nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) increasingly provide services that are traditionally thought to be a governmental responsibility. Through a qualitative case study, we examine the role, politics, and sustainability of a nonprofit CBO aimed at expanding opportunities for underserved youth. Our findings explain how this CBO worked to…

Community-based organizations have long influenced education reforms, and urban areas are especially vulnerable to community work that transcends racial and economic boundaries. The purpose of this study is to explore how The League of Women Voters of Las Vegas Valley, a mostly White, middle-upper-class women's organization, worked to pursue one…

This article is a historical case study of an attempt to build a citywide coalition in Rochester, NY. The coalition wanted to improve urban education by implementing community based wrap-around supports in a similar form as the well-respected Harlem Children's Zone. Our study found that groups had difficulty creating buy-in for this reform effort…

Grounded in critical policy theories and democratic conceptions of research, case studies of three community-based organizations, one in Canada and two in the U.S., were analyzed to determine if and how the groups engaged with research in their efforts to influence education policy. The findings demonstrate that the community-based organizations…

Research Findings: Using a structured qualitative case study method, this study examined one urban school readiness initiative's efforts to identify and engage family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care providers to promote school readiness in underserved and immigrant communities. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 23 FFN providers, 14…