Service Learning Commons^™

Toward An Integrated, Whole Community Model Of Dropout Prevention, Michael Baizerman, Donald Compton

Partnerships/Community

As part of a statewide evaluation of dropout prevention programs in Virginia, survey data were collected statewide from school district dropout prevention coordinators. Ninety-four of the 103 school divisions (91 %) receiving state funds for dropout prevention responded to the survey. In addition, school staff were interviewed as part of a case study of seven schools to identify approaches to improving parent and community involvement, and focus groups were conducted with community agency representatives and parents. The interview data were analyzed using Joyce Epstein's model (see Table I) which organizes practical actions and likely outcomes for five types of parent …

Popular Education: Adult Education For Social Change, Sandra Kerka

Partnerships/Community

Popular education is a form of adult education that encourages learners to examine their lives critically and take action to change social conditions. It is "popular" in the sense of being "of the people." Popular education emerged in Latin America in the 1960s-1970s; Paulo Freire is its best known exponent. However, its roots may be found in the French Revolution, in workers' education of the 1920s-1930s, and in such movements as the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee (Beder 1996; Jeria 1990). The goal of popular education is to develop "people's capacity for social change through a collective problem-solving approach emphasizing …

Maryland Service Exchange Directory, Governor's Commission On Service

Partnerships/Community

On behalf of the Maryland Governor's Commission on Service, I am pleased to present the second edition of the Maryland Service Exchange Directory. The Governor's Commission on Service created the Maryland Service Exchange to provide cost-free, program development, technical assistance and training to Maryland's national and community service programs, non-profit and community-based organizations, schools and colleges. At the same time, the Exchange offers a new, innovative opportunity through which Marylanders can volunteer to serve our communities.

Adults As Allies, Barry Checkoway

Partnerships/Community

Young people are creating community change! They are tutoring in the schools, working in health clinics, and serving meals in soup kitchens. They are cleaning up the environment, rehabilitating houses for the homeless, and formulating strategies for neighborhood revitalization. They are solving problems, planning programs, and involving people in decisions at the community level.

A Study Of Community Interaction, Ernst W. Stromsdorfer, Grant Forsyth, Richard Oxley

Partnerships/Community

This study analyses selected aspects of the community impact of the Kitsap Community Action Program projects entitled ''The Public Awareness of Kitsap" (PACK). PACK was initiated as a response to a downsizing of Department of Defense activities in Kitsap County. With PACK, the Kitsap Community Action Program (KCAP) joined hands with the Washington Service Corps in an effort funded by the Defense Conversion Assistance program to revitalize the local Bremerton and Kitsap County economies.

Project Success: A Model For University-School-Community Partnerships, James X. Bembry

Partnerships/Community

In the 1980s a flurry of educational reform activity took place, resulting in collaborative relationships between public schools and universities as a popular and promising vehicle to revitalize education in urban areas (Osajima, 1989). The hope for these collaborations has been that the "bumping together of university and school cultures would have a positive effect on both institutions" (Goodlad, 1993, p. 25). Most of these partnerships have been between a school or department of education within a university and local elementary and secondary schools (Goodlad, 1990). Although the social work literature has addressed the subject of partnership programs (Danis, Franklin, …

Students And Service-Learning: Planning Programs With Communities, Ruth A. Assell

Partnerships/Community

Project: "Improving the Health of Women and Children Through a Multidisciplinary Service-Learning System"

You are about to embark on an exciting journey--working with a population of homeless women and children, the agencies that serve them and the community in which they live. You, in partnership with these individuals and groups, will be assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating a service-learning program aimed at addressing mutually identified needs. This handbook is intended to assist you in that process. Although the handbook provides an overview of the entire process-assessment through evaluation, most attention is given to the needs assessment portion of the process. …

Schools And Business Benefit Mutually Through Service Learning, Mike Bookey

Partnerships/Community

Schools are modeled after the industrial factories of yesterday. The goal of the education process is to mass produce standardized, educated citizens and workers. In this factory model, we teach students the hierarchy of decision making, to follow orders, and to work individually. Businesses, however, need graduates who are self-directed, responsible employees, who can solve problems, who can handle computers and the latest technology, and who can work in teams. In this the information age, business can no longer continue to sidestep the need to reformulate the processes and goals of public education.

Education: How Can Schools And Communities Work Together To Meet The Challenge? A Guide For Involving Community Members In Public Dialogue And Problem-Solving, Matthew Leighninger, Mark Niedergang

Partnerships/Community

This guide is designed as a tool to help members of the education sector involve community members in discussions about their local schools and learn how to become involved in the process of improving education in their community. The first half of the guide presents basic material for conducting a four- to seven-session discussion program based on the study circle model. Materials dealing with the following discussion topics are included: how schools affect communities and community members' lives; what community members want graduates to know and be able to do; how schools can meet every students' needs, make schools safer, …

Youth Program Targets Crime, Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now, Inc.

Partnerships/Community

A NEON proposal will become reality this summer for 100 youth ages 10 to 15. A demonstration program called Summer of Safety will guide youth to use crime prevention strategies and to undertake projects to increase safety in their neighborhoods. NEON's innovative proposal won highly competitive funding by the Corporation for National Service, an initiative of the Clinton Administration. The activities will take place at South Norwalk community Center, Roodner Court Neighborhood Center, and G. W. Carver Foundation from June 21 through August 20, 1994.

The Participatory Action Research Model, University Of Pennsylvania Center For Community Partnerships

Partnerships/Community

From the Office of the President to the dormitories of first-year students, there is a strong commitment to community service at the University of Pennsylvania. The Center for Community Partnerships serves as Penn's bridge to the community by channeling the idealism, skills, and abilities of Penn faculty, staff, and students and the resources of the University to help improve the quality of life in our city and neighborhoods. Since 1992, the Center for Community Partnerships has been the cornerstone of community service efforts at Penn. Building upon the University's strong foundation of community-based programs and drawing upon Benjamin Franklin's legacy …

Developing Community Partnerships Through Service Learning Programs, Jay Cooper

Partnerships/Community

Community service programs have existed on college campuses for years but did not fully emerge as they have during the past 10 years. More than 700 volunteer programs exist at colleges and universities throughout the country (Fioerchinger, 1991). National organizations such as the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL), the Campus Compact, and the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) have served to stimulate and firmly establish service learning as a movement and an educational priority in this country. In addition to the emergence of college service programs and national organizations, programs such as the National Student Clean-up for Hunger, Into …

"Connections" Volunteer Centers And Schools: Partners For Service-Learning, Volunteer Centers Of Pennsylvania

Partnerships/Community

As interest in school improvement has become an increasingly salient national issue in the 1990's, interest in community service and service-learning as an integral part of education and educational improvement has shown a similar increase. In Pennsylvania, the proportion of school districts offering academic credit for community service has grown from 5% in 1989 to 20% in 1992; the number of school districts requiring community service for graduation has grown from one to seven. A series of national studies and reports including the Carnegie Commission's 'Turning Points," the W. T. Grant Commission's "Forgotten Half," and Dr. Ernest Boyer's influential books.High …

Linking A City's Culture To Students' Learning, Richard Allen Chase, William G. Durden

Partnerships/Community

The aquarium, the theater, and the zoo are some of the possible "classrooms" in The Baltimore learning Network's model learning community.

Making A Case For Collaborative Problem Solving, Christopher T. Gates

Partnerships/Community

As the number and diversity of actors expecting to be part of any community decision increase, so must the process for making those decisions become more open and accessible. Bringing diverse/layers together- finding common ground, defining share interests - is a process of self-realization whereby all community members can discover that they have the talent and ideas necessary to improve community life for themselves and their neighbors.

Comprehensive And Integrative Planning For Community Development, Ronald Shiffman, Susan Motley

Partnerships/Community

Over the years, both the public and nonprofit sectors have moved away from comprehensive, community-based planning strategies, lured by "quick fix" of a project-by-project development strategy. Unquestionably, these projects have directly benefited some poor individuals and families. More often than not, however, they do little to increase the economic vitality of the community in which the project is developed. To deal effectively with the issues of community disorganization and poverty and to broaden participation in the community renewal process, we must examine in today's light the originally envisioned community development corporation model and its principles. We need to plan, initiate, …

Partnerships: The Community Education Process In Action, William J. Cirone

Partnerships/Community

Partnerships represent such a simple concept, it is amazing that they - and the whole community education process - have taken so long to become widely recognized. The benefits seem so obvious that the real wonder is that we haven't been operating this way all along. Partnerships - and, by extension, community education - are tools that can be used to address many of the problems we face as members of modern society.

Evaluating And Working With Community Agencies: A Guide For The Principal, Carl I. Fertman

Partnerships/Community

Schools can take the initiative in dealing with community agencies, says this writer, who offers some suggestions on how schools can help such agencies develop programs to meet student needs.