This digest, drawn from a larger study, looks at six community colleges and community college systems in regard to how they are attempting to serve their urban communities. The author defines urban community colleges as being in or close to major cities, and serving large numbers of economically and educationally disadvantaged students from…

Challenges confronting children, youth, and families in the current socioeconomic environment are examined, and the role of the university-assisted community school in addressing them is explored. Comprehensive, collaborative change strategies that support and strengthen families and nurture children and youth in addition to providing education…

The Urban Curriculum Partnership is a collaborative among a rural university and an urban school district and the community it serves. The goal is to help at-risk students reach their academic potential, stay in school, and eventually enter into a postsecondary education program. A district-wide tutoring program was developed and implemented in…

This report describes the efforts of Mount St. Mary's College (California) to extend the benefits of a strong, traditional baccalaureate program to an underserved population of women in an urban region, including substantial numbers of minority and first-generation college students. To help realize its service mission and increase access to…

Patterns of history and culture help define the path one finds acceptable and follows. In Tremont, Maine, out-migration coupled with the influx of summer visitors has helped create a culture that undercuts students' appreciation of their own abilities and diminishes their aspirations to postsecondary education. Maine students in the "high…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program for at-risk parents designed to improve family reading and thus prepare at-risk children for school. The program, "Ready for Reading," consists of three two-hour sessions conducted with parents at their children's school while the children are in pre-kindergarten classes in various…

Describes the Middle College High School (MCHS) at Seattle (Washington) Central Community College, a public schools cooperative venture among the school system, community college, Seattle Housing Authority, and corporate sponsor. The MCHS enrolls students at risk of dropping out and boasts an impressive effort in retaining and educating these…

"Our Town: An Architectural Perspective" is a program for at-risk elementary school children which was instituted at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). The goal of this effort was to introduce built-environment awareness in the public schools, where the neighborhood serves as the classroom and as a vehicle for…

Juvenile detention centers offer an important opportunity to address aggression and counteraggression with nonviolent adolescents and with those who are at high risk of committing violent crimes. The growing interest in community-based problem solving creates the potential for juvenile detention centers to become part of community intervention…

Describes the developmental studies program at Prince George's County Community College, a successful effort to improve retention rates and graduate students with high levels of academic competence. Stresses the importance of testing and remediation in reading, English, and mathematics; coordination with high schools; the learning community…

The Center of Excellence for Rural Special Education at Clemson University (South Carolina) has developed a field-based undergraduate preservice teacher training program. During the fall and spring semesters of their senior year, preservice teachers are matched with a mentor special education teacher for 2 weeks in a rural school district of the…

This document consists of two catalogues describing programs, events, and activities designed to prevent the use of alcohol and other drugs by American Indian and Alaska Native people, particularly adolescents and other young people. Together the catalogues include 61 descriptions of programs developed and implemented by the five agencies under…

Kingsborough Community College's New Start Program, designed to prevent dropping out, allows students on the verge of academic failure at three participating senior colleges to enroll as students in good standing, earn credits, and reenroll in any City University of New York senior college. (MSE)

The paper describes a successful effort at collaboration among a college reading program, a neighborhood self-help agency, and a public school. The three-way partnership was formed to improve the literacy levels of 12 behaviorally disturbed children in the fifth and sixth grades. The project involves whole language reading instruction and…

John Merrow, president of Learning Matters, Inc., has been reporting on K-12 education since 1974, but only recently has he begun to draw attention to higher education. This award-winning broadcaster is shedding light on the underbelly of higher education--and is arguing that something must be done before it's too late. This article presents the…