The use of volunteer workers in the school system is an educational improvement at low cost. Volunteers should be used on a regularly scheduled basis for specific duties and projects, depending on school needs and the availability and capabilities of the volunteer. The purposes of a volunteer program are to increase student motivation, to assist…

A recently constructed New York elementary school is an example of how cities are finding ways to provide quality education for children in facilities that assume the additional role of community centers during after-school hours. (MF)

This speech discusses three aspects of community participation used in Los Angeles junior high schools--education aides, a volunteer program, and school-community advisory councils. The author describes the roles of the three groups and discusses their effectiveness, emphasizing that successes or failures of community participation are tied to the…

Five programs that use community aides to assist teachers with environmental education projects are discussed. A profile gives characteristics of the typical environmental aide. The aides tend to see themselves as "specialists" as indicated by their selection of supplementary activities. Teachers' activity listings indicate they see the aide's…

This report stresses the positive role volunteers can play in helping schools individualize instruction and motivate students. It discusses the need for a national and/or State organization to better coordinate volunteer activities in different areas. The report reveals some of the obstacles that make the use of volunteers difficult, discusses…

Presents the findings of a case study of a school that embodies the essential features of the community school model, and points out some of the reasons this attempted innovation purportedly failed to achieve its goals. (Author/JM)

This comprehensive training program, Together We Can, involves a cooperative effort to reduce sex-role stereotyping and to expand options in education, work, and life styles for females and males. This facilitator manual is designed to encourage community groups, school volunteers, and parents to initiate a process of community organization and…

This paper describes the Helping Our Teachers (HOT) Program, a community volunteer program started in the fall of 2000 at Julia P. Bryant Elementary School in Statesboro, Georgia. The purpose of the program is to formally organize all parent volunteers to help teachers and staff with school-related activities previously shouldered by…

The Volunteer Listener Program has been the joint effort of the School Volunteer Program of Miami and the Dade County Mental Health Association since 1972. Through it, trained volunteers are matched with students who have special, but non-crisis, needs. All activities are conducted under the direction of a counselor who has been specially trained…

In this paper, boards of education are urged to evaluate their policies and their performance in relation to parent and citizen involvement and to consider seriously how programs at districtwide and school levels can be improved. The emphasis in such programs should be on developing open two-way communications and full participation aimed at…

A community volunteer program was developed for Miami Southridge Adult Education Center in Dade County, Florida. The program was designed to serve a variety of needs, including providing remedial training for students preparing to take the General Educational Development examination, providing supervisory and tutorial services for the children of…