Volunteers In The Schools

Among the most prominent of President Bush's "thousand points of light" are volunteers who work with our nation's students. The last several decades show considerable growth in the numbers of school volunteers, with increasing participation by people from the business community, retired citizens, and college students, in addition to the traditionally active mothers of school children. Yet, we must do more to ensure the success of volunteer programs in schools. It is not enough to assume that any volunteer effort will produce results, nor is it wise to use volunteers simply because they are "free." This new volume from the National Research Council provides the first overview ever compiled of volunteer activity in U.S. public schoolsâ€"reporting on how volunteers are being used in schools, what factors make programs successful, what further research will enhance our ability to create good programs, and what directions our national policy should take. Included in this study of volunteers in public schools are the reports of the committee's site visits to 13 volunteer programs identified as "exemplary" from Boston Partners in Education to "Project Rescue" for dropout prevention in Corsicana, Texas. Each site report describes local economic conditions and their effects on education, the organization and size of the school system, and the volunteer programâ€"with details on how each program functions and what results have been achieved. This book will be immediately useful to federal, state, and local policymakers, school boards and administrators, principals and teachers, PTA members, business firms involved with schools, and, of course, managers or coordinators of volunteer activities and concerned volunteers.

In Schools with Heart , Brown explores voluntarism by using original data gathered from 185 interviews with public school principals, teachers, and volunteers, many of whom worked in schools known for their volunteer programs. Supplementing these data from other studies, this careful inquiry finds that volunteers offer much to schools. School volun

In an era of mommy blogs, Pinterest, and Facebook, The Good Mother Myth dismantles the social media–fed notion of what it means to be a “good mother.” This collection of essays takes a realistic look at motherhood and provides a platform for real voices and raw stories, each adding to the narrative of motherhood we don’t tend to see in the headlines or on the news. From tales of mind-bending, panic-inducing overwhelm to a reflection on using weed instead of wine to deal with the terrible twos, the honesty of the essays creates a community of mothers who refuse to feel like they’re in competition with others, or with the notion of the ideal mom—they’re just trying to find a way to make it work. With a foreword by Christy Turlington Burns and a contributor list that includes Jessica Valenti, Sharon Lerner, Soraya Chemaly, Amber Dusick, and many more, this remarkable collection seeks to debunk the myth and offer honest perspectives on what it means to be a mother.

This large collection of handy ideas features easy-to-use tools, comprehensive checklists, and sets of “Do’s and Don’ts” advisories. It provides guidelines on how to conduct effective parent conferences, suggestions on how to recruit and work with volunteers, and other useful tips to help bring your school and your community closer together.