The author uses the "lifecourse" of one model--the community partnership plan--as a lens into school reform in Philadelphia, focusing particularly on the politics of school reform and Philadelphians' responses to privatization. The aim of the article is to show that education reform is not about the orderly implementation of a particular…

Issues uncovered in a 3-year action-research project that placed social workers and graduate students in community police departments were selection of staff and students, attitudes about the law, confidentiality, motivating the reluctant client, and sensitivity to police-social worker perceptions of each other. (JT)

Conventional anti-poverty efforts have failed because they have not created the structures for the poor to help themselves, and they are designed and controlled by people outside of the affected communities. Introduced in 1968 by the National Association of the Southern Poor, the Assembly is a non-political structure that organizes community…

The attempts of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) to implant mandatory alcohol and tobacco instruction in Alberta's public schools is traced. These efforts are compared with the group's simultaneous efforts at temperance reform in the United States. (SJL)

This report describes Chicago's Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), which has long worked to mobilize neighborhood residents to maintain and improve the quality of community life and bring additional resources and services into the neighborhood. LSNA prioritizes the needs of low- and moderate-income residents. LSNA works to make schools…

The development and functioning of urban social networks in highly politicized environments--particularly, the neighborhood based community organization, political coalition building of urban mayors, and community action programs--suggest implications for building locally based educational reform capacity through network development. Community…

Evaluation data are reported from two examples of a comprehensive approach to urban school reform that attempted to involve the full range of stakeholders, including parents, in school reform. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation awarded grants to five urban school districts to improve middle schools by focusing on high expectations, high content,…

Contents of this report on Title I, E.S.E.A., include: the nature and purposes of Title I; the uses of Title I; Process for developing Title I proposals--responsible bodies: role of parents, community advisory committee, community school board, New York City Board of Education staff, State Department of Education; time-table for development of…

The Indicators Project on Education Organizing was designed to examine the role of community organizing in school reform. For over 2 years, researchers documented the education organizing of five urban groups. This report presents an education organizing indicators framework that highlights strategies and accomplishments of education organizing.…

This report describes Austin, Texas' Austin Interfaith, which connects community institutions that can support families (e.g., schools, congregations, and civic organization) and builds the capacity of family members to participate fully in the economic system. Viewing schools as key neighborhood institutions, Austin Interfaith works directly with…

This report describes New York City's ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which has a 20-year history of organizing in the City and emphasizes public education issues. ACORN works at both the neighborhood and policy level. It is one of five case studies in the Indicators Project on Education Organizing, which identified…

This report presents summaries of five case studies from the Indicators Project on Education Organizing, which was designed to examine the role of community organizing in school reform. For over 2 years, this action research project documented the education organizing of five urban groups. The research developed an Education Organizing Indicators…

This report on educational reform shows how three dynamic but quite different organizations are currently attempting to secure quality education for urban disadvantaged children. Aspira of New York, Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization, and Harlem Parents Union are three self-help groups that seek quality education for poor children but differ…

The partnerships described in this article represent the fruits of two decades of collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), community organizations, and the public schools in Philadelphia (particularly schools in West Philadelphia, where Penn is located). Penn's Center for Community Partnerships (CCP) has worked with other…

The principles of structure and procedure for innovative organizations articulated by both postbureaucratic essayists and the organization theorists of innovation are identified. The conditions necessary to generate innovation--small, collegial, problem-solving groups; autonomy of line professionals; separation of planning from the process of…