A study examined experiential education programs in terms of how they developed participants' personal agency, sense of belonging, and levels of competence. Personal agency empowers students to become change agents in their lives and communities; sense of belonging enables participants to see themselves as members of a community with rights and…

This working paper lays groundwork for a Network for New Approaches to Lifelong Learning study on informal learning by people displaced from the labor market or chronically unemployed, in the context of community organizations. Section 1 examines the context and two particularly significant features--wider changes in the nature of work and related…

This working paper is intended to enrich an initial description of alternative businesses and A-Way Express Couriers, in particular. (A-Way, a 12-year-old community organization, is a psychiatric survivor-run alternative business.) The paper begins with a brief commentary on the psychiatric survivor movement and research on it. The paper traces…

This project is building on site-specific qualitative data to develop a profile of adult learning activity now largely unrecognized by education providers. It explores the various learning strategies used by adults in these three locations: unionized factory, community-based training program, and literacy program. At a half-way point in a two-year…

Examines collaboration between schools and nonprofit community-based organizations and its impact on dropout prevention programing and staff-student relations. The study is part of a 3-year longitudinal evaluation of the New York City Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention program at 6 of 29 city middle schools implementing the collaboration.…

Americans rely on public schools to educate and prepare almost 50 million students to become productive members of society. Yet many public schools, particularly those in large cities, face significant challenges: over-crowded classrooms, shortages of highly-qualified teachers, low student achievement, achievement gaps, access to preschool, and…

A project was undertaken to develop a model that adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) programs throughout Pennsylvania could use as a framework to develop and implement collaborative family literacy programs in cooperation with human services agencies and community-based organizations, including providers of Even Start, Head Start, and other…

A study investigated the nature and function of 206 New Hampshire and 74 Vermont conservation commissions empowered to protect natural resources. Qualitative and quantitative research methods gathered data from a small number of commissioners and identified common patterns, then tested their prevalence through a survey of all commissions. Patterns…

The California Main Street Program (MSP) provides technical assistance to rural communities facing rapid growth and downtown decay, serving as a vehicle for local stimulation and revitalization of downtown area businesses. This five-part handbook presents strategies for creating partnerships between California's MSPs and the state's community…

An exploratory study designed to analyze the evolution of neighborhood movements in Rio de Janeiro City (Brazil) focuses on actions related to the struggle for public schools. The effort seeks to determine the degree of political autonomy of the neighborhood associations and the nature of the educational demands and their relationship with the…

This handbook on participative learning is designed for workers involved in community and adult education programs, staff development, and youth, community, and social work organizations. The introduction explores a theoretical basis for participative learning and defines terms. Chapter 1 examines program planning issues and includes some useful…

The Third World countries of Botswana and Tanzania have used Radio Learning Group (RLG) campaigns effectively to get a limited amount of important information to a very large group of people at the same time. During campaigns voluntary participants organized in groups of 5-20 meet twice a week for about 5 weeks to listen to radio broadcasts about…

The grassroots Rural Communities Educational Cooperative (RCEC) made higher education accessible/affordable to adults in rural Appalachian communities, designed courses for competency-based rural education, and received high ratings from students and faculty. The Mountain Women's Exchange--a network of seven community organizations run by…

Focusing on the period from June, 1984 through November, 1984, this report summarizes the activities of the Gulf Coast Future Issues Council (GCFIC), a non-profit corporation organized as a coordination center of community research, forecasting, trend analysis, and educational activities. After introductory material that highlights the role of the…

This evaluation of the second-year (1986-87) implementation of the New York City (New York) Dropout Prevention Initiative (DPI) in 13 high schools focuses on student characteristics and outcomes, with a discussion of a set of statistical data on program services, findings on school-level indicators of program effectiveness, and an analysis of…