School-Community Partnerships

A number of EDC projects work in partnership with both schools and communities, knitting together collective, multidisciplinary approaches to improving students' health and education. The success of a school improvement effort often hinges on communication and relationships between educators and community members. EDC projects view every school as a community resource, and every community as a resource for the schools.

Publishing Genome Research (ITEST New Jersey)

Bioinformatics: the Rutgers Initiative in Teacher Enhancement (BRITE) is a project engaging thousands of New Jersey high school students and their teachers in cutting edge molecular biology investigations. This Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project is funded by the National Science Foundation and supported by the Learning Resource Center at EDC.

Girls Explore IT Careers (ITEST California)

Build IT is an afterschool and summer program for underserved middle school girls that capitalizes on its participants interest in design and communication technologies by engaging them in hands-on, collaborative, real-world experiences. This project, a collaboration between SRI International and Girls Inc of Alameda County (GAIC). This Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project is funded by the National Science Foundation and supported by the Learning Resource Center at EDC.

Becoming Green Energy Experts (ITEST Michigan)

Green Energy Technologies in the City (GET City), a collaboration between Michigan State University and Lansing Boys and Girls Club, is a program designed to empower inner-city youth to become community science experts in energy sustainability and environmental health topics. This Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project is funded by the National Science Foundation and supported by the Learning Resource Center at EDC.

Bridging Culture, Community, and Science (ITEST Maine)

Community for Rural Education Stewardship and Technology (CREST) a project for students and teachers, uses Web design, ethnography, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to address community challenges in rural areas of Maine. This Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project is funded by the National Science Foundation and supported by the Learning Resource Center at EDC.

EDC Program Hosts American Youth Exchange in the West Bank

During a visit facilitated by EDC’s Ruwwad Youth Empowerment Program, a student delegation from American University in Washington D.C. traveled to the city of Ramallah, meeting with Palestinian young people for a day of community service.

Inclusive Schools Week

Celebrated annually during the first full week of December, National Inclusive Schools Week highlights and celebrates the progress of the nation’s schools in providing a supportive and quality education to an increasingly diverse student population, particularly those with disabilities.

Project Reentry

Project Reentry expands and supplements services offered through the Department of Justice Affairs to recently released youth offenders. Services include academic, employability, life, and occupational skills training. EDC provides technical assistance to the project that focuses on program design issues. EDC assesses curriculum provided by partnering institutions, researches and reports on best practices of similar projects, and provides recommendations for program modification based upon surveys of participants and community stakeholders.

Pennsylvania College Prevention Project

This program supports a comprehensive statewide initiative to strengthen college alcohol and other drug prevention efforts in Pennsylvania. The project provides training and technical assistance to campus and community coalitions at Pennsylvania public and private colleges, with the goals of limiting alcohol sales to minors, eliminating irresponsible marketing practices by alcohol sellers, and increasing enforcement of campus policy and community laws.

dot-EDU—DRC—Improving Basic Education for Girls

EEC’s YouthLearn Initiative has been awarded this sub-task of designing training materials for the IES-led dot-EDU—DRC—Improving Basic Education for Girls. This work has included revising existing training materials around student-centered learning and contributing to the design of a train-the-trainer professional development strategy.

JBFC Evaluation Planning and Capacity Building

EDC works with staff from the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) to conduct evaluation planning for the See Hear Feel Film curriculum, which is designed to provide third grade students with an understanding of film and of themselves as creative beings, and is implemented in both in-school and out-of-school settings. EDC’s work focuses on clarifying student and teacher outcomes and determining indicators to measure change.