Recommendations for starting a process of collaboration between public schools and social service agencies are offered in this digest. The first step, information gathering, is discussed, as well as strategies for carrying out other stages in the process--selecting, approaching, and meeting with participants; problem solving; and maintaining the…

Since the early 1980s, more and more businesses have been motivated to enter into business/education partnerships to improve the academic and technical skills of the future work force. In the one-to-one institutional partnership, the needs of one school and/or one business drive the agreement. As partnerships expand to involve multiple partners,…

Electronic technologies and collection development are two of the top concerns in library and information science today. The challenges of integrating electronic resources and technologies into the process of collection development are many, and many-faceted. Beyond task-oriented considerations, such as the selection process itself, there are…

A number of recent educational reform reports have stressed the need for increased cooperation among educational institutions to address such problems as high dropout rates, a workforce without the job skills needed by high-tech industries, and the absence of clearly defined career goals among high school and college students. For community…

Based on a recent nationwide survey of rural administrators, this digest reports on the financial problems of rural school districts and some possible strategies for improvement. Rural administrators reported the following financial management problems: (1) cash flow problems due to late receipt of state aid or taxes; (2) expenditures that are…

The development of collaboration at the school level to meet the needs of students with limited English proficiency and other special needs is discussed in this digest. The following topics are covered: barriers to collaboration (e.g., funding, turf issues); changing perceptions of collaboration; ways to promote collaboration, especially the need…

To find vocational education curriculum materials, educators can contact their State Liaison Representative (SLR) to the National Network for Curriculum Coordination in Vocational and Technical Education (NNCCVTE), regional Curriculum Coordination Center (CCC), state vocational education resource center (SVERC), and/or one of the consortia that…

A Local Area Network (LAN) allows computing equipment to share information from any device on a network with other devices on the same network. Uses for LANs in schools include sharing printers and programs, centralized file sharing, access to library databases and catalog, cost-effective connection to external networks, electronic mail, school…

The ancient Athenian "agora" functioned as a marketplace for ideas and commerce and offered an ideal place for teaching and learning. This digest suggests adapting such a model to modern needs and describes successful small schools that have done so while reducing costs. Research shows that small schools offer many advantages for…

School reorganization has been used extensively as a strategy to deal with the problems of small and rural schools. However, there is no comprehensive evidence to prove that consolidation has met the problems of finance, staff, facilities, and curriculum for which it has been advocated, nor are consolidation's disadvantages and ill-effects of the…

Vocational educators seeking curriculum materials, lesson plans, classroom activities, and other instructional materials can locate them in a variety of places. The ERIC database is a good source of information about the following instructional and resource materials: curricula, project descriptions, lesson plans, classroom activities, task lists,…