The community school model posits that the traditional school model is not sufficient to overcome the role of poverty in equitable access to learning, and that improving student achievement requires addressing the needs of the whole child. By leveraging community partnerships to address student barriers to learning and shift relationships between…

In the fall of 2009, the Boston Foundation announced a new strategic framework, "Thriving People, Vibrant Places", to guide much of its work for the next five years. The framework had its roots in a larger strategic direction first taken by the Foundation's Board of Directors in 2001. At that time, the Board believed the Boston…

This article offers an alternative point of view on the perspectives that large-scale literacy surveys provide on refugee women by presenting the case of Darya, a young Afghan woman who moved to Canada as a refugee in 2009. It also presents how a community-based organisation for young people addressed Darya's literacy and identity curation…

Previous research demonstrates that social and interpersonal factors, more than academic preparation, affect decisions by under-represented students to stay in or to leave STEM fields. Yet, much of the theorizing about STEM learning in higher education begins with conceptual and epistemological dimensions. We make the case for a new theoretical…

Interest in service-learning within TESOL has increased in recent years. Teacher-scholars have described multiple uses of such pedagogy in programs for students of English as a second language (ESL) and in courses of ESL teacher education. This article employs action research to focus on an introductory TESOL class at a U.S. university for which…

This paper explores the possibilities and challenges for ethno-religious reconciliation through secondary school education in post-war Sri Lanka, with a specific focus on the Muslim and Tamil communities in the Northern city of Jaffna. In doing so, we position our paper within the growing field of "education, conflict and emergencies" of…

Service-learning courses provide students with practical opportunities to enhance their learning and development in the field, along with getting students engaged in different communities and settings. However, there are still many challenges to designing and offering effective service-learning courses, such as requiring all students to…

CADRE, an organization led by Maisie Chin, is a Human Right to Education Campaign. Between 2005 and 2013, CADRE played a lead role in using grassroots organizing and leadership development to create a seismic shift in public policy, debate, and narrative around school discipline, racial disparities, parents' roles, school climate, and closing the…

This research paper involved thematic analysis of interview responses from local citizens regarding the university's role in improving race relations. The paper addressed these questions: (1) What themes emerged from participant responses regarding UALR's role in improving race relations? and (2) What themes emerged from participant responses…

Extension educators provide resources to community coalitions. The study reported here adds to what is known about community coalitions and applies an assessment framework to a state-level coalition-based Extension program on healthy relationships and marriages. The study combines the Internal Coalition Outcome Hierarchy (ICOH) framework with four…

Little scholarly evidence exists about the communication needs of nonprofit community partners and what they think constitutes an ideal service-learning (SL) relationship. This study seeks to fill this gap by identifying SL projects and relationships that best serve nonprofit community partners with communication needs. The researchers conducted a…

This chapter describes the cocurricular activities offered through The Democracy Commitment at Allegany College of Maryland and the impact of these civic experiences on its students.

Although research on teacher alienation and isolation has demonstrated the importance of developing collegial relationships, mentoring, and induction programs, there is limited research examining the ways to support critical educators with combatting their feelings of alienation and isolation as it relates to the larger sociopolitical dynamics…

This article describes process and outcome evaluations of a blended Cyber ESL program for native Spanish speakers in Chicago who could not use regular ESL classes. The outcomes measured against before and after scores and several comparison groups showed large gains in English language proficiency. 58% percent of students from the cohorts which…

The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) has developed the "Resource Guide: Building a Bright Future for All" (Guide) to assist and enhance State and local efforts to support immigrant children from birth through the elementary grades. The second section of this Guide is a handbook for parents of immigrant children in early…