Fifteen papers commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education's School Finance Project are contained in this volume. The papers examine the changing dimensions of the federal-state partnership in education. The volume is organized into four sections. The first section is devoted to state educational policy concerns, including various state approaches to improving educational quality, school finance reform, and the states' relationship to special needs students. In the second section, the focus is on lessons states can learn from federal education programs, including material on federal strategies used prior to 1981 to deliver services to target groups such as the disadvantaged or handicapped, federal strategies for educational improvement, and what past experience with different types of federal programs can teach about intervention effectiveness. Consolidated and block grants as an alternative framework for federal-state programs and the probable responses of state education agencies to such programs are the subjects of the third section. The final section offers recommendations for restructuring the federal-state partnership in education, including the suggestion that the federal government adopt differential treatment for states that are merely adapting federal programs and states that are not complying. The suggestion is made that one form of differentiating (waivers) would be expensive and cumbersome. Other recommendations concern school-based strategies for school improvement and federal and state policies that reward improvement of learning. (JM)

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.