Intervention programs for low‐income children and families must work to connect the policies and practices of intervention to the communities that they intend to serve. This article describes Energy Express, a summer reading and nutrition program for children in low‐income communities across the state of West Virginia. Energy Express has consistently demonstrated beneficial effects in maintaining and improving children's reading and in increasing collaboration between schools and other community organizations. The success of the program in each community is attributed in part to the ways in which the program acknowledges and values local knowledge, the purposeful tension between centralization of planning and purpose and localization in implementation, and the understanding of the multiple meanings of community. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

A survey of 381 special and regular educators assessed perceptions and opinions surrounding the regular education initiative. Confirmatory factor analysis supported an a priori hypothesized structure of teachers' responses. Items factored into 14 categories. These factors describe issues related to preferred placement of students with mild disabilities, teachers' responsibility and ownership, teacher preparedness for meeting the needs of these students, achievement outcomes for all children, and the changes that would result from adopting the proposed consultant model rather than a pullout program. Results favored current special education practices (pullout programs) in elementary schools.

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