This brief seeks to improve staff effectiveness while maximizing and streamlining support for students and families experiencing homelessness, ensuring they receive the assistance they need and deserve. The guidance is intended for, but not limited to, Massachusetts policymakers and Boston Public Schools (BPS) administrators, offering key insights…

Reports on a study into the relative importance of the four goal clusters of Project Synthesis as perceived by members of service clubs and community groups. Results indicate that although the importance of science for further studying of science remained constant from 1976-1986, significant increases occurred in the importance of science in…

This booklet provides a practical guide for schools to use to help involve parents and citizens in the educational system. It is provided as a resource for Michigan school districts. Schools play a key role in the involvement of parents and citizens in three major areas: (1) communicating with all parties to ensure support and understanding; (2)…

The Attendance Improvement/Dropout Prevention (AI/DP) Program is a six-component program involving selected high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and nontraditional school settings in New York City. This study of the program included site visits, examination of student records, staff interviews, and analyses of information from the…

Although many school boards' policies on public use of school district facilities are deliberately vague and allow administrators great flexibility in their interpretation, this paper advocates well-defined regulations. It presents a sample policy, discusses legal concerns, and suggests essential provisions of facility-use policy. The policy…

To allow school district staff to administer community organizations' use of school facilities, school boards should set strong but flexible policies on such use, as has the Akron (OH) Board of Education. Although Ohio law allows schools to be used for a wide range of social, recreational, and religious activities, the board--acknowledging its…

Spurred by sagging retail trade and the need for future planning, the Fort Madison (Iowa) Chamber of Commerce initiated a community survey to determine attitudes of residents towards various community characteristics. A 7-section questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 411 area households, of which 268 or 72.2% responded. Over 75% of…

Public education today involves various citizen groups, state agencies, service organizations, interest groups, institutions of higher education, and other constituencies who influence policies and assist districts with finances, materials, and personnel. This bulletin discusses strategies for organizing these groups into a coalition that…

Using the school-community council as a vehicle, this manual leads school staffs, parents, community representatives, and school council members step-by-step through suggested tasks to strengthen schools and to help restore confidence in the public school system. Chapter 1, "Schools and Communities Working Together: A Rationale," defines…

This book analyzes how community-based organizations in low income urban neighborhoods can promote reform of their local public schools. Chapter 1, "Reassessing the Declining Urban Neighborhood," discusses the sources of urban decline in terms of a structural relationship between "haves" and "have-nots." Chapter 2,…