Numerous role shifts occur between the ages of 55 and 74 as individuals typically relinquish paid work and somefamily roles and make choices about how to usetheir expandingdiscretionary time. Using datafrom thefirst two waves oftheAmericans' Changing Lives survey, weexamine theassociation between paid work status andformal and informal volunteer activity. No evidencefor an association between paidworkstatus and informal volunteering isfound, suggesting that helpingfriends, neighbors, and relatives occurs independent ofconstraints associated with paid work. A relationship is established for formal volunteering, however. Among individuals who were not volunteeringforformal organizations at thetimeof thefirstinterview, those whoworked part-time, those who had not worked in either wave, aswell as those whostopped work between interviews were significantly more involved in volunteering than were full-time workers.As the population of the United States continues to age, questions about how older individuals use their time become more pressing. According to U.S. census data, individuals aged 55 to 74-those approaching later life together with those commonly referred to as the "young-old" -numbered more than 42 million in the year 2000, making up 230/0 of the total adult population aged 25 and over (U.S. Bureau of the Census 200 1). Projections suggest that by the >I-

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This measurement strategy provides a foundation for future research into how experts can employ productive activity clusters to understand better well-being across the life course. This is important because our results show that many activities do not occur independently but rather are linked in patterned ways.

On the basis of data from the 1998 and 2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, this study tested two alternative hypotheses, role overload and role extension, about the relationship between volunteering and spousal caregiving among older married persons. Spousal caregiving was not significantly associated with the likelihood of formal or informal volunteering for men; however, female caregivers were found to be less likely than noncaregivers to have engaged in formal or informal volunteering to a certain extent, thus lending partial support to the role overload hypothesis. Functional health status and other human and cultural capital resources were significant predictors of both formal and informal volunteering for both men and women. Future studies need to examine in more depth the effect of spousal caregiving on volunteering, taking caregiving burden and stress into consideration, to more fully understand these two types of productive activity in later life.A ccording to data collected through a supplement to the September 2005 Current Population Survey, 30.2% of persons aged between 55 and 64 years and 24.8% of those aged 65 years and older volunteered in a variety of

Our results provide support for the hypothesis that caregivers are embedded in networks that provide them with more opportunities for volunteering. Additional research on the motivations for volunteering and greater attention to the context and hierarchy of caregiving and volunteering are needed.

Higher rates of volunteering might be expected of elders in the period immediately after retirement because they tend to be in relatively good health and have fewer competing obligations. Data from the Commonwealth Productive Aging Survey, a telephone survey of a representative national sample of 2,999 people 55 years of age and older, confirmed findings of previous research that retirement is not associated with higher rates of volunteering. However, in the first and second years following termination of employment, nonvolunteers show a heightened receptivity to volunteering; that is, they indicate more willingness to take on volunteer assignments and an ability to do so than do elders who are employed or who have been out of the workforce for longer periods. The findings suggest that volunteer coordinators should focus volunteer recruiting efforts on elders who are about to leave jobs or who have recently left jobs.Leaders of a variety of nonprofit organizations have become increasingly interested in enlisting older people as volunteers to help meet their urgent human resource needs (Fischer & Schaffer, 1993). The attractiveness of having older people as volunteers stems in part from the growth in numbers of older people who are not working and who are in good health. For most older people, employment is no longer an obstacle to making major time commitments as volunteers because only a minority are employed. In 1994, among those 60 to 64 years of age, 44.5% were employed; among those 65 to 69 years of age, 21.4% were employed; and among those 70 to 74 years of age, 11.3% were employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994). On a variety of measures, the health of those younger than 75 years of age is generally good. Only about 11 % of those 65 to 74 years of age, for example, report that chronic illness prevents them from carrying out their usual responsibilities (Taeuber, 1990).

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Partnerships between school staff, families, and community members are vital for ensuring the success of all students in inclusive schools. This article reports the results of a synthesis of two original studies: one study that examined the perspectives of family members and another study that examined the perspectives of community partners in developing partnerships with school staff at six inclusive knowledge development sites located in five geographic regions within the United States. The current synthesis study analyzes the original studies' overlapping themes to inform concentrated efforts aimed at strengthening family and community partnerships in inclusive schools. Themes of this synthesis study include positive, inviting, and inclusive school culture; strong administrative leadership driven by a clear vision of inclusion; attributes of trusting partnerships; and opportunities for reciprocal partnerships and involvement. Implications for practice and research are discussed.