This report discusses the need for a research agenda to understand how rural public schools can work with their communities to improve student performance while building the community. It focuses on the potential strengths of school-community relationships. Described herein are four community engagement models a school can adopt: (1) School as…

In Canada and elsewhere, the shift from more horizontal models of governance and toward a more organized, diverse, and empowered civil society has sparked renewed interest in citizen involvement. The various dimensions of citizen involvement in policy processes are as follows: (1) mobilizing interest; (2) claims making; (3) knowledge acquisition;…

Despite the enduring problems of equity and access in the delivery of education in rural Australian schools, vocational education and training (VET) programs appear to have had a significant impact on many such schools and their communities. Vocational educational programs in Australia are based on structured workplace learning. There are three…

Inner-city business development is often proposed as a solution to inner-city poverty. However, research evidence suggests that creating new jobs in the inner city is unlikely by itself to increase significantly the employment or earnings of the inner-city poor. Public subsidies for inner-city business development may be justified by greater…

The Lifeskills Project in South Africa provides services to communities in lifeskills facilitation training. Empowerment and capacity building in course and workshop participants is an underlying theme, with emphasis on self-concept enhancement for community enhancement. Aims of the Lifeskills Project include: (1) training facilitators in…

These two publications fill the need of newly posted Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) for self-directed learning activities to aid the community entry process. A volunteer's guide provides a way to learn about biophysical, economic, and social aspects of the host community during the first few months of service. It has ideas and activities for…

This book shows how schools can provide services to all members of the community, in addition to focusing on the educational needs of the children. Eleven chapters discuss various aspects of what it takes to transform a school into a community learning center. Chapter 1 discusses underlying assumptions about change and the need for planning.…

Six case studies examine the connections between higher education institutions and schools that have chosen place-based education as a framework for student learning and community growth. Through such partnerships, Lubec (Maine) high school has established a vocational aquaculture program in an effort to revitalize the struggling local fishing…

Expanded Internet access to the Ohio Career Information System (OCIS) would provide adults in Ohio who need to or wish to make career changes with the best available information about occupations, education and training programs, and financial aid. In order to determine the feasibility of improving access without cost to users, an advisory group,…

The collocation of services in regional Western Australia (WA) is an important strand of WA's regional development policy. The initiative is intended to foster working relationships among stakeholder groups with a view toward ensuring that regional WA communities have access to quality services. Clustering compatible services in smaller…

Profiles the English Midlands city of Leicester, an industrial center with a growing immigrant and minority population. Discusses the city government's response to problems concerning jobs, housing, and a racist backlash. The outlook is optimistic as the minority citizens assume new roles in the social and economic community. (MJP)

This document contains abstracts of 46 presentations from the first Warwick International Early Years Conference. Presentations included discussions of research studies, program descriptions, and opinion papers on a variety of topics pertaining to child development and early childhood education. Topics covered include: (1) cross-cultural…

Articles in this theme issue are based on presentations at the Pathways from Poverty Workshop held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 18-25, 1995. The event aimed to foster development of a network to address rural poverty issues in the Western Rural Development Center (WRDC) region. Articles report on outcomes from the Pathways from Poverty…

This book provides an overview of existing human resource conditions in rural America; examines key economic, social, and technological forces shaping the future viability of rural areas; describes human capital issues for rural women and minority groups; and outlines strategies to strengthen rural human capital resources. Chapters are: (1)…

The National Forum on Effective Urban and Metropolitan Schooling met to discuss building communities and curriculum as part of a larger effort to support an agenda of achievement, competency, and success for urban education. This report of that 1989 meeting is divided into two parts. The first part lists and defines the following 10 themes for the…