Home ResearchReports The Road Ahead Background Papers (1997)

Projects: Road Ahead
(School Home Community Connections)

This document is a draft of one of several reports being prepared for The Road Ahead, a program of the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE), a nonprofit foundation of the National Education Association (NEA). The Road Ahead is funded by Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, from proceeds from his book by the same name. The program involves 22 school/community partnerships in 15 states using technology-based learning activities that extend beyond the traditional classroom and school day.

This draft is subject to review and revision, and was prepared by staff of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). All statements and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent policies or positions of the NEA, NFIE, ISTE, or Microsoft Corporation.

School-Home-Community Connections:
Roles of Information Technologies

Information technologies are now common components of many school, home, and community environments. Computer networking increasingly links individuals and agencies within and between communities. This connectivity is bringing valuable new dimensions to the education of our children.

Links to major headings

• Introduction
• Types of Connections
• Elements of Successful Partnerships
• Conclusion
• References

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Introduction

It has long been known that the school, home, and community are each important players in a child's education (U.S. Department of Education, 1986; Microsoft Corporation, 1996).

In his 1994 State of American Education Address, Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley listed home and community connections as a top priority. Of these, he saw school-home connections as being the most important. He used the word community in its broadest sense, to include people who live in a school's neighborhood, friends and relatives of students, local businesses, churches, arts and science communities, social service agencies, colleges, universities, and the global community that is now so accessible through the Internet.

In the United States, state governors have worked since 1989 with two different U.S. presidents and the U.S. Congress to put together a list of fundamental educational goals that can guide national policy. This list is summarized in the Goals 2000: Educate America Act that was signed into law in March, 1994. The eight goals in this federal legislation are to be achieved by the year 2000. Two of them relevant to the current report are:

1. All children in America will start school ready to learn.

. . .

8. Every school will promote partnerships that will increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

The first of these goals stresses the importance of the home and community in a child's education before children start school. The last of the goals stresses the need for parents to play a major continuing role in their children's education after the children start school.

John Abbot (1995) wrote that "modern society has done young people a grave disservice by separating the world of learning from the world of work and its immediate concerns." He views the preindustrial age apprenticeship system as a much more effective model. Beginners worked with parents or experienced craftspersons while gradually acquiring skills and assuming greater responsibility. Learning was immediately applicable, and the learning process was rarely cut off from the daily life of the community. This social view of learning reflects cognitive and brain research indicating that individuals construct meaning in a social context that allows them to build on existing knowledge (Abbot, 1997). Abbot sees the "traditional" school, with its isolated, teacher-delivered instruction, as actually a recent anomaly, invented to provide workers for assembly-line workplaces. Those environments are now giving way to much more dynamic settings in which individuals take responsibility for their own learning.

In many ways, technology defines this new workplace. Workers at many levels of skill and responsibility, from part-time service employees to high-level managers and professionals, use computers, telecommunications equipment, and related technologies in their daily work. However, children in classrooms rarely have continuous access to these tools; indeed, neither do their teachers. Even when the technology is present, teachers are still learning to integrate it into curriculum. The issue of professional development-the need for educators to learn new skills before they can make changes for their students-has been well documented in the past decade (U.S. Congress, 1995; National Foundation for the Improvement of Education [NFIE], 1996).

Technology also provides some solutions to these problems. The communication avenues opened up by expanding digital networks have the potential to link traditional classrooms through video, e-mail, the World Wide Web, and other technologies to learning resources outside the school. These resources broaden the concept of "community" to include all people, anywhere in the world, with access to the common technologies.

Quantitative data, such as standardized test scores, on the academic benefits of broader connectivity is meager. However, there is a copious amount of qualitative data on attitudinal and behavioral improvements as a result of school-community connections. This report provides examples from past and current programs, and shares some of the guidelines and lessons that participants and researchers have learned from their experiences.

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Types of Connections

Many types of school-home-community connections are possible, including:

• Parent involvement.
• School-home technology partnerships.
• Cultural connections.
• Business-education partnerships.
• Distance education.
• Community-based classroom projects.
• Site-based management teams.
• Interagency social service consortia.

Many of these are exemplified in schools participating in The Road Ahead Program, which sponsored this report. The Road Ahead focused on establishing or promoting school-community partnerships. The 22 sites included schools at all levels and a wide variety of partnering institutions, including police departments, museums, libraries, senior centers, child care programs, nature centers, colleges and universities, and businesses (International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 1996).

Parent Involvement

These are programs that motivate and assist parents in assuming a shared role in their children's learning process at school. As reported by NFIE (1996), "The top issue of teacher's minds when they think about education is parents. Teachers' highest priority for professional development is learning how to reach out to involve parents more effectively in their children's learning" (p. 47).

Rowland Hill Latham Elementary School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina reported that 80% of parents visit the school during the year (Braun & Bielefeldt, 1995). Parents serve as tutors, chaperones, and speakers at Career Day. Parents of children in the pre-Kindergarten commit themselves to volunteering three hours per month and to attending monthly meetings. Support also comes from civic organizations and local business partners, including Jostens School Products Group, Red Lobster, Arby's, and Lowes Food. Volunteers from the community and business partners work individually with at-risk students on academic skills.

The school showed a steady increase in California Achievement Test reading scores from 1990 to 1994, which they attributed to small class size, after-school enrichment activities, and remediation using a Jostens integrated learning system. The student-to-computer ratio in 1994 was 6:1. It is important to note that this is not a wealthy community. All of the school's students were covered under Chapter 1. Forty percent of the parents were unemployed, and 40% had not completed high school.

School-Home Technology Partnerships

In this kind of relationship, schools or school districts provide computers or other resources to families for use at home. Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) began providing home and school computers to selected sites in 1986. Results included increased student engagement, improved achievement in some subjects, and more use of student-centered instructional approaches by teachers (Apple Computer, 1995).

Since 1987, Indiana's Buddy System Project has supplied every student and teacher in selected schools with computers, modems, printers, and software, both at home and school. Rockman (1995) reported results including improved student writing achievement, more engagement in academic tasks, increased professional development, greater parent involvement, and improved family climate. Rockman also noted increased student interest and attention to mathematics, although that was not reflected in test scores. This situation also reported by Miller and McInerney (1994). Rockman's recommendations included increased integration of the home and school activities, more professional development, expanded use of telecommunications to connect home and school, and use of Buddy System graduates as resources in the community.

Cultural Connections

These projects motivate members of minority communities to become more involved and enhance students' self-esteem and appreciation of their own or other minority communities (Moll and Gonzalez 1994; Paratore et al. 1994; Swick 1995). Reissman (1995) described her experiences using computer, video, and audio technology to connect students to adults in the community.

Reissman assigned seventh-grade students of diverse ethnic backgrounds a conventional task of reading and critiquing current news articles. However, she added a novel requirement. The students interviewed an adult, recorded their correspondents' comments on the article, and prepared multimedia presentations on the topic. Reissman reported that the students explored issues over a period of time, encountered unexpected cultural perspectives, and spontaneously sought other points of view beyond the minimum requirement. "Interestingly," she wrote, "the ongoing partnerships were often valued by the adults . . . as well. Many unrelated retirees wrote to tell me and their student co-commentators how they really enjoyed talking about the news and hearing how 'young people felt.'"

Business-Education Partnerships

"Business and education have many overlapping needs and interests," observed Gallessich and Daugherty (1993), but "the distance between them has become an Achilles heel for the whole society. The process of educating students who are ready for work can be improved considerably with cooperation from the business sector."

Within The Road Ahead Program-itself a business-education partnership between Bill Gates of Microsoft Corporation and the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education-a number of sites pursued school-business collaborations. A Vermont high school's digital imaging lab cooperated with the local computer animation industry. A South Carolina elementary school augmented its computer facilities with donations from a software firm, which sees itself as investing in the technical education of its future employees. Several sites in The Road Ahead discovered that assumptions about schedules and learning needs were different for schools and their partner organizations (which also include, at different sites, senior care facilities, libraries, museums, nature centers, police departments, and youth programs). Some partnerships found that they had to make changes in meeting times, work schedules, and the content of activities to meet participants' needs (ISTE, 1996; unpublished data).

Distance Education

The "correspondence course" has long served students in remote locations. The modern version includes computers and computer connectivity bringing new learning opportunities to students at school, home, and elsewhere.

In Eugene, Oregon School District 4J, a World Wide Web-based "CyberSchool" enables students to take courses online. The courses include Spanish; advanced placement English, calculus, and American government; classic literature; world history; and various other classes in social studies and language arts. The classes are open to students throughout the world. Registration is handled through the University of Oregon, and scholarship funds are provided by a large software company with a division located in Eugene. Students are provided with texts for study and are connected to additional individuals and resources outside the school.

Classroom Projects

Classroom academic activities can require collecting and analyzing information from sites, organizations, or individuals outside the school, and, in many cases, sharing the results with the community. Project-based learning is of growing importance in education, and is discussed in detail in another report in this series (ISTE, in press). The Road Ahead Program includes several examples of this learning/sharing activity. For instance, at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael, California, students in an ecology class conduct an ongoing study of the creek that flows through the school campus. Working with the local Native Plant Society and other groups, the students have prepared reports that have been submitted to land-use planning agencies (ISTE, 1996).

Linking with subject-matter experts outside the school is a common benefit of telecommunications-based or -enhanced instruction. This process has been formalized in a project called the Electronic Emissary based at the University of Texas at Austin (Harris, O'Bryan, & Rotenberg, 1996). Since 1993, The Electronic Emissary has connected classroom teachers and their students with professional experts who serve as advisors to classroom projects. Examples provided by Harris and her colleagues include a middle-grade biology project in a rural California school guided by a researcher at Michigan State University, a Texas elementary class comparison of early local history to early colonial history facilitated by an historian in Virginia, and a New England high school genetics class discussing scientific theory and ethics with a geneticist in Minnesota.

Scardamalia and Bereiter (1996) note that an "ask the expert" approach is a one-way partnership as far as the flow of knowledge. Their "Knowledge Society" model allows school children, university students, museum staff, businesses, and other network participants to share and modify common databases. For example, museum staff working on an electricity exhibit and elementary students studying electricity may use one another's databases as resources. "By visiting the students' databases, the curators will gain an understanding of students' conceptions (and misconceptions) of electricity, and the students will have input to the design of the exhibit" (p-. 7-8).

Site-Based Management

Site-based management teams or site councils in schools frequently include students, teachers, parents, school administrators, business people, and other representatives of the major stakeholder groups (David, 1994). In recent years, there has been a strong movement in business and industry toward reducing the number of levels of management between the bottom and the top, to empowering workers at the bottom, and to an organization-wide emphasis on total quality management and continuous improvement of service. This type of analysis has helped to support ideas of site-based management and of total quality management in education (Murgatroyd & Morgan, 1992).

Site-based management in schools provides an excellent example of a growing type of school-community connection. Figure 1 represents a sharing-a redistribution- of educational power. This redistribution of power is characteristic of site-based management in schools.

Figure 1. A sharing of power.

If a school uses site-based management, the management team may have a technology subcommittee or Technology Advisory Council (Austin et al, 1993). A Technology Advisory Council (TAC) typically consists of teachers, administrators, parents, and other volunteers. The TAC does long-range planning for technology in the school and serves in an advisory capacity to the school or to the site-based management team.

Canandaigua, New York, a small city district with primary, elementary, middle, and high schools employs networks, labs, multimedia workstations, and a TV studio. The entire technology effort was planned by a large-scale committee including representatives from private industry. Other school-community links involve extensive community workshops in computer literacy, including workshops specifically for senior citizens. Any student with a DOS-based computer, a modem, and the proper software can link to the district's extensive CD-ROM collection. Parents and other family members can make use of this resource (Braun & Bielefeldt, 1995).

Interagency Social Service Consortia

Several public entities that serve students can work cooperatively to bolster the chances for student success. Burnett (1994) noted that many schools have begun to play a major role in building and maintaining links that enable social service agencies to assist their needy students more holistically. Technology comes into play in these partnerships as service agencies take advantage of shared, networked databases of information to identify needs and assess results (Council of Chief State School Officers, 1995). Capper (1994) reported on an inner-city service consortium based in a housing project and noted that community members felt that the services were more accessible than when they were housed in a (sometimes intimidating) public institution. On the other hand, Ascher (1990), maintained that the school is often the logical community center, and can provide the most efficient delivery of services.

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Elements of Successful Partnerships

Partnership and collaboration are key words that crop up in journal articles and educational documents that deal with school-community or school-home connections. A central idea is that if educators want to encourage greater participation from individuals and entities outside the schools, they cannot expect to call all the shots. For the education system to become more fully integrated into the homes and communities of its students, schools must be work with parents and other organizational entities on a more equal footing, to share decision-making and responsibility. Each type of partnership has unique features. However, researchers have observed conditions that tend to be present in most successful programs. Grobe (1993) offered the following list of 15 characteristics of successful partnerships. Grobe's findings are consistent with similar recommendations by Imel (1991), Thompson (1995), and Apple Computer (1995).

Top-Level Leadership. Who this involves depends on who the partners are and what kinds of relationships they have. In a whole-school effort, the principal must be supportive. If it's a district-wide project, the superintendent must at least give the project his or her blessing. A work-force preparation initiative requires the participation of business people, higher education faculty and staff, and community-based agency leadership.

Partnerships are usually instigated by a school or community leader with a vision. Over time, this individual usually transfers authority and leadership to a broad-based group, project staff, or both. Leadership means promoting the project, getting others interested and involved, providing necessary resources, and holding staff accountable for results.

Imel (1991) also found that the right players need to be involved in business partnerships. A core group of high-level leaders from the various sectors need to endorse the mission and agree to share risks and benefits. An intermediary or "broker" can be crucial for developing links among all the players. Brokers helped translate differences in terminology, context, and cultures and help create a sense of common ownership.

Grounding in Community Needs. Needs assessment is an effective tool for building consensus and creating shared ownership. Data, such as documentation of dropout rates, is also a powerful motivator. Assessing the mood of a community is also crucial. If the economy is depressed or if political battles are brewing, commitment to a new project may be hard to come by.

Thompson (1995) wrote that successful school partnerships not only helped students gain real-world experience, but also involved genuine contributions to the community.

Effective Public Relations. Partnerships need to build and maintain support for their efforts. Partners need to be kept apprised of activities and accomplishments. Often, it is desirable that a partnership be thoroughly reported by the press and media.

Clear Roles and Responsibilities. Partnerships develop reciprocal roles and share resources in order to accomplish a goal that cannot be addressed successfully by any one group. Articulating and agreeing upon roles and responsibilities is an essential early step. The district partner in a school-based innovation must provide the conditions needed to nurture an experimental setting and the openness to apply the lessons learned.

Racial and Ethnic Involvement. If the project is in a culturally mixed neighborhood, leaders must seek ways to involve all elements of the community.

Strategic Planning. It is important to agree on a mission statement and put it in writing; to set goals and measurable outcomes; and to develop an implementation plan that details activities, responsible persons, timelines, and monitoring and evaluation processes.

Imel (1991) also found that successful school-to-work partnerships were characterized by the development of a formal plan. This included long and short-term goals, along with a collaborative process for arriving at goals and objectives. Plans included an obvious chain of command.

Effective Management and Staffing Structure. Implementation doesn't happen by magic. Someone needs to be in charge, and if the project is large, it requires a full-time manager. Managers and staff need to be optimistic and energetic "doers" with excellent organization, negotiation, and communication skills. If a partnership expands or becomes more complex, leadership and management need to grow and adjust accordingly.

Imel (1991) found that school-to-work transition programs were most successfully managed by a private industry council, the local chamber of commerce, or an organization created especially for this purpose.

Shared Decision Making and Interagency Ownership. The partnership must benefit all of the collaborators. They must learn to trust each other and share in decision making. If meetings evolve into mere information-sharing sessions or if decisions are later reversed by a highly placed leader, people tend to become angry and alienated, and organizations begin to withdraw their involvement.

Shared Credit and Recognition. If any single partner takes most of the credit, the others are likely to feel slighted and withdraw their support. All partners need incentives for participation. Frequent public recognition or awards engender continued enthusiasm.

Appropriate, Well-Timed Resources. Money, of course, along with human and in-kind support, are all important to partnership development.

Human resources may be the most critical element in some programs. Apple Computer (1995) found that partnerships created to affect teaching and learning require extra time for teachers and intensive professional development.

Resources may be the main focus of the partnership, as when a school relies on a business for technology donations or on its parent-teacher organization to raise funds or lobby for bond measures. As with other kinds of collaborations, these depend on having a high level of commitment and involvement from all of the major stakeholders. For a comprehensive introduction to obtaining resources for technology see Moursund (1996).

Technical Assistance. The more complex the partnership, the greater the need for technical assistance. Partnership plans should include specific assistance needs and a budget for this purpose.

Formal Agreements. When two or more public entities join forces, written agreements must be carefully crafted, signed, monitored and adjusted over time by leaders.

Action and Frequent Success. Especially in large or more abstract ventures, it is important to plan and implement short-term activities. Short-term successes in assisting young people are a great motivator for future and continuing action.

Patience, Vigilance, and Increased Involvement. Change takes time. Staff members and leaders may come and go, and new participants who replace them must be fully informed and involved. Imel (1991) found that the entities involved in a successful business-community partnership developed a sense of ownership and made a long-term, sustained commitment. Top-level leaders understood that no "quick fixes" exist, and they were willing to assign time, money, and human resources to maintain the partnership and to adapt the program to changing circumstances. Ongoing community outreach is essential, along with expanding involvement and activities. Partnerships that are not growing are very likely dying.

Local Ownership. Partnerships that develop as a result of outside grants will not survive unless the project is adopted by local organizations.

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Conclusion

Building and strengthening partnerships between schools, families, and other community entities is a major piece of educational reform. When these connections are well established, families are more involved and supportive of the educational process, and the learning that takes place is more appropriate to students' post-graduation needs.

Educators and researchers increasingly recognize this concept and are working to make the vision a reality. But change is rarely easy, and complex systemic changes, such as redesigning the ways in which schools, families, communities, social service agencies, and businesses interact, take a great deal of time, planning, training, commitment, communication, and patience.

For collaborative partnerships to work, all participants must be motivated by mutual concerns and treated with respect. Shared decision making and support from high-level leaders are essential. Goals, roles, and objectives must be clearly delineated. Finally, excellent communication skills, with a focus on listening, are a prime requisite to success at every step of the way.

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References

Abbott, J. (1995). Children need communities. Educational Leadership, 52 (8), 6-10.
Abbott, J. (1997). To be intelligent. Educational Leadership, 54 (6), 6-10.

Abbott is president of the 21st Century Learning Initiative in Washington, DC. These articles appeared in special issues of Educational Leadership on school-to-work programs (1995) and how children learn (1997).

 

Apple Computer, Inc. (1995). Apple education research reports. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Summaries and selected complete studies from one of the longest-running educational technology implementation programs.

 

Ascher, C. (1990). Linking schools with human service agencies. ERIC/CUE Digest No. 62. Washington, DC: Children's Defense Fund; New York: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 319 877.)

Brief summary of the challenges of linking schools with other agencies, as well as a list of attributes of successful partnerships.

 

Austin, T., et al. (1993). The technology advisory council: A vehicle for improving our schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

This book contains detailed information about how to establish a Technology Advisory Council (TAC) at the school or school district level. It identifies key stakeholder groups and discusses some of the needs of these groups. It outlines the types of activities that a TAC can do to help provide technology leadership in a school or school district. The book includes an annotated bibliography and a glossary of key terms.

 

Braun, L. & Bielefeldt, T. (1995). Celebrating success. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Profiles of 13 successful technology-using schools and districts, with summary survey information for a large number of additional sites.

 

Burnett, G. (1994). Urban teachers and collaborative school-linked services. ERIC Digest No. 96. Washington, DC: National Education Association; New York: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 371 108.)

Describes roles of educators in school/agency partnerships and offers recommendations for establishing and maintaining successful collaborations.

 

Capper, C. (1994). "We're not housed in an institution, we're housed in the community": possibilities and consequences of neighborhood-based interagency collaboration. Educational Administration Quarterly, 30 (3), 257-277.

Description of a school-community agency partnership based in an urban housing project.

 

Council of Chief State School Officers. (1995). Moving toward accountability for results: A look at ten states' efforts. [Online archive]. Available: www.ccsso.org/ibsum951.htm.

Results of a survey on states' efforts to develop results-oriented systems of services, supports, and opportunities for children and families.

 

David, J. L. (1994, May). School-based decision making: Kentucky's test of decentralization. Phi Delta Kappan. pp. 706-712.

A preliminary report on the challenges of starting up a statewide site-based management effort.

Eugene School District 4J. CyberSchool. [Online archive]. Available: CyberSchool.4j.lane.edu.

Catalog and description of a local school district program accessible world wide via the Internet.

 

Gates, B. (1995). The road ahead. New York: Penguin.

Book and companion CD that presents Gates' vision of connected learning communities that use technology to eliminate barriers between formal and informal learning environments.

 

Gallessich, G. & Dougherty, R. (1993). Business-education partnerships: It takes a whole village to raise a child. Corvallis, OR: Western Center for Community College Professional Development, Oregon State University.

A discussion of partnerships featuring extensive quotes from representatives of large and small businesses.

 

Goals 2000: Educate America Act. H. Res. 1804, 103d Cong., 2nd Sess. (1994). [Online archive]. Available: www.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/sec102.html.

Complete text of the Goals 2000 legislation that currently guides national educational policy in the United States.

 

Grobe, T. (1993). Synthesis of existing knowledge and practice in the field of educational partnerships. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 362-994 .)

A concise summary of findings on partnerships, with an extensive list of recommendations and references.

 

Harris, J., O'Bryan, E., & Rotenberg, L. (1996). It's a simple idea, but it's not easy to do! Practical lessons in telecomputing. Learning and Leading With Technology, 24 (2), 53-57.

A description of the Electronic Emissary project that links classrooms with subject-matter experts via telecommunications.

 

Imel, S. (1991). School-to-work transition: Its role in achieving universal literacy. ERIC Digest No. 106. Columbia, OH: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 329 806.)

A summary of recent developments in school-business partnerships, with an analysis of successful practices.

 

International Society for Technology in Education. (1996). The Road Ahead: The first year. Report submitted to the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education, Washington, DC.

Formative evaluation report from the first year of The Road Ahead, including profiles of 22 school/community partnerships.

 

International Society for Technology in Education. (in press). Project-based learning and information technologies. Washington, DC: National Foundation for the Improvement of Education.

Summary of recent PBL literature, with implementation suggestions and examples from schools.

 

Microsoft Corporation (1996). The connected learning community: A new vision for technology in education. Redmond, WA: Author

Suggestions for the role of educational technology as a communication medium linking students with learning resources.

 

Miller, M. D. & McInerney, W. D. (1994-1995). Effects on achievement of a home/school computer project. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 27 (2), 198-210.

The authors found no significant effects on standardized test scores for students in the Buddy Project school/home computer program. Compare to Rockman, ET AL (1995), who found significant results using different site selection criteria and evaluation instruments.

Moll, L. C., & Gonzalez, N. (1994). Lessons from research with language-minority children. Journal of Reading Behavior, 26 (4), 439-456.

Describes an approach to incorporating home-based minority-culture knowledge into education.

 

Moursund, D. G. (1996). Obtaining resources for technology in education: A how-to guide for writing proposals, forming partnerships, and raising funds. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

A comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to ways of obtaining resources for computer technology in education. Includes sample proposals.

 

Murgatroyd, S. & Morgan, C. (1992). Total quality management and the school. Buckingham, England: Open University Press.

 

National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. (1996). Teachers take charge of their learning: Transforming professional development for student success. Washington, DC: Author.

This careful study emphasizes the role of professional development in empowering teachers and in improving education for students. Includes an extensive bibliography.

 

Paratore, J. R. and others. (1994). Shifting boundaries in home/school responsibilities; involving immigrant parents in the construction of literacy portfolios. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Reading Conference, San Diego, California, November 30-December 3, 1994. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 379 601).

Paratore found that shared portfolios helped link school with Spanish-speaking new immigrant families. Includes extensive quotes from participating families.

 

Reissman, R. (1995). Multigeneration multimedia perspective news reading. The Computing Teacher, 22 (6), 43-45.

Rose Reissman is a prolific writer about her classroom innovations in New York schools. This articles describes a project in which students and adults from the community cooperatively analyzed news stories.

 

Riley, R. W. (1994, February 15). Speech presented at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 368 500).

Announcement of an administration-sponsored family involvement campaign, with suggestions for family-school connections, schools connecting with parents, communities connecting with parents and schools, and assistance from the U.S. Department of Education.

 

Rockman ET AL. (1995). Assessing the growth: The Buddy Project Evaluation, 1994-5. San Francisco, CA: Author.

Rockman looked at sites that had fully implemented the Buddy Project home/school computer program. Using a language arts rubric, he found significant learning gains. Compare to Miller and McInerney (1994-1995).

 

Scardamalia, M. & Bereiter, C. (1996). Engaging students in a knowledge society. Educational Leadership, 54 (3), 6-10.

Description of projects using CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment) databases, along with a comparison of the authors' Knowledge Society approach with other telecommunications-based partnerships.

 

Swick, K. J. (1995). Family involvement in early multicultural learning. ERIC Digest. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED 380 240).

Discusses three approaches to school-family partnerships: parent education and support; school-family curriculum; and parent-teacher partnerships.

 

Thompson, S. (1995). The community as classroom. Educational Leadership, 52 (8), 17-20.

Description of a school-community connections project implemented in six communities. Detailed accounts of projects in Tony, Wisconsin, and Kaneohe, Hawaii.

 

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. (1995). Teachers and technology: Making the connection (OTA-EHR-616). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

A landmark report detailing the situation, needs, and possibilities of classroom teachers in incorporating new technologies into education. The report places particular emphasis on the need for professional development.

 

U.S. Department of Education. (1986). What works: Research about teaching and learning. Washington DC: Author.

This short book provides an excellent summary of research-based ideas for improving education. The general format of the book is to devote one page—or a page and a graphic—to a topic. The topic is briefly summarized and a set of recommendations are given. This is followed by a brief listing of research studies that support the recommendations.

Prepared for the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education by the International Society for Technology in Education. Subject to review and modification. Principal authors: Dr. David Moursund, Karen Irmsher, and Talbot Bielefeldt. Contact: Talbot Bielefeldt, Research Associate (talbot@iste.org).