Program Areas

This year we will be focusing on five areas:

• Community School Leadership

• After-School Programs 
• Life Long Learning Community Building
• Higher Education and Research
• Education and Research

Among these five areas there are a wide array of topics we hope to have covered when the program is finalized.

Community School Leadership

Participants will gain knowledge, tools and strategies to become effective collaborative leaders and to better understand how to bring together diverse school and community members in an effort to create communities that thrive.

• Administrative Competency Endorsement (ACE) & Applied Professional Program Leadership Endorsement (APPLE)
• Building a Community School
• Building Partnerships and Collaborative Efforts
• Closing the Achievement Gap
• Community Advisory Councils
• Continuous Improvement Process
• Developing Good Communication Skills
• Future Focused Leadership
• Leadership vs. Management
• Marketing and Public Relations
• Personal Growth (time/stress/wellness)
• Politics of Collaboration
• Program Assessment, Evaluation and Data Collection
• Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
• Staff Development
• Strategic Planning
• Strategies for Educating Legislators & Policy Makers
• Team Building
• Working Effectively with Families and Community

After-School Programs and Process

Participants wil focus on K-12 extended day programs, including federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center programs, and discuss start-up and ongoing programs and programs that have found ways to become self-sustaining. 

• Advisory Council
• After-School to Community School Transition
• Continuous Improvement Process
• Coordinating Learning with the Regular School Day
• Creative Funding for Sustaining Programs & Services
• Designing Effective Evaluations
• Family Engagement
• Forming Effective Partnerships/Collaboratives
• Hiring & Retaining Quality Staff
• Management
• Marketing
• Mentoring Programs
• Planning for Sustainability
• State/local Partnerships and Politics
• Tutoring Programs
• Supplemental Educational Services (SES)
• Volunteers – recruiting and retaining

Life Long Learning

Participants will have the opportunity to focus on programs and services for community members of all ages, including opportunities for intergenerational interaction. 

• Assessing Adult Learning Needs
• Basic Education Programs (ABE, GED)
• Career Development
• Career Retraining
• Early Childhood Childcare/Preschool
• Effective Adult Programming
• Family and Workplace Literacy
• Family Involvement Programs
• Family Learning

• Gang & Crime Prevention

• Intergenerational Programs
• Meeting the Needs of Different Cultures & Languages
• Peer Mediation/Conflict Resolution
• Programming for Children with Disabilities — ADA & IDEA
• Program Evaluation
• Service Learning
• Substance Abuse Prevention
•  Workforce Development
• Youth Leadership Development

Community Building

Participants will focus on building and strengthening informal and formal resources and structures to help a community recognize its common values and its potential to work together to everyone’s benefit.

• Asset-based Community Development
• Asset Mapping
• Building Community Partnerships – business partnerships; agency partnerships etc. 
• Building Intergenerational Support
• Building Social Capital
• Community Organizing/Development
• Decreasing Mobility
• Designing and Building Community Schools
• Encouraging Civic Engagement
• Faith-based Partnerships
• Family Services
• Health Care
• Housing
• Schools as Centers of Community
• Strategic PlanningStrengthening Resources

Higher Education and Research

Higher education institutions who are defining a role for themselves in community education will be encouraged to share their methods and results. A research focus will also provide an opportunity to become aware of significant research findings.

• After-School to Community School ResearchResearch in Progress
• Comparative Studies (International)
• Historical Foundations to the Community Education Movement
• Indicators of Success for After-School Programs
• Community Schools and Community Education

• Family Involvement in After-School Programs
  

• Training Programs for Community Education, Community Schools, and After-School Programs