General Educational Research and Resources As a teacher, free time for research is often in short supply. For continuing your education, however, the Internet can provide many valuable resources. Here are some organizations that conduct research and publish their results. In some of the following explanations of these sites, we have noted that documents are published in PDF format.To learn more about this format, and how to read, download and print documents in this format, click here. ASCD, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, provides links to publications such as Educational Leadership and the Educational Bulletin. You can also become a member of the organization. http://www.ascd.org/ The National Research Center on English Language and Achievement (CELA), founded thirteen years ago, seeks to bring research to teachers, administrators and policymakers. In doing so, CELA impacts the national literature curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Some current research projects CELA has completed are a set of studies on effective language arts instruction in the primary grades, and identifying excellent middle and high school instruction. Added 1/7/99 http://cela.albany.edu/default.htm One of the recent hot topics in the media is the digital divide, the gap between those with access to technology and the Intenet and those without access. Information on Closing the Digital Divide is available at this web site, created by the Department of Commerce. This is a good resource for staying current on this topic. Added 1/31/00 http://www.digitaldivide.gov/ DataQuest, from the California Department of Education, will help you locate API scores for California schools. You can also find information on school staffing, enrollment and English Language learners. Added 5/22/00 http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ The Educational Data Partnership, sponsored by the Alameda County Office of Education, California Department of Education, EdSource and the Financial Crisis and Management Assistance Team, creates easy access to a variety of data and statistics. You can view information by school, district, county or state. This is an excellent to improve decision making with regards to educational resources. Added 5/22/00 http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/welcome.htm Education Week on the Web offers teachers current information and commentary on educational issues. You can also read the Education Week Special Reports--the most recent one is entitled "Technology Counts '99--Building the Digital Curriculum." This site also links to Teacher Magazine. You can order a printed copy of either publication from this site. http://www.edweek.org/ The U. S. Department of Education has published e-Learning: Putting a World-Class Education at the Fingertips of All Children. The report supports five goals of the nation, ranging from teacher training to providing all students with information-literacy skills. Both a summary and the entire report are available at the website. Added 3/1/4/01 http://www.ed.gov/Technology/elearning/index.html Florida High School, an online alternative to other high schools, is currently operating. Read information about it at USA Today, or visit the school's website to learn about course offerings and school affiliations. Added 11/1/00 http://www.fhs.net/ The Galef Institute has created a curriculum based upon research entitled "Different Ways of Knowing." The DWoK curriculum integrates history, social studies and other content areas with artistic disciplines. http://www.galef.org/galef.html The George Lucas Educational Foundation shares information on many topics. The foundation publishes a newsletter for educators, which can be accessed online. They have created a documentary film entitled "Live and Learn," to highlight the possibilities of public schools. It is accessible as a print document on the web. http://glef.org GreatSchools allows teachers, parents, administrators or anyone who is interested to gather information on standardized test scores in California and Arizona. The site also gives information on how schools work and what standardized tests mean. Added 9/19/00 http://www.greatschools.net/ From Now On is an educational technology journal that is published ten months a year on the Internet. The journal covers many topics, such as professional development and assessment. http://fno.org The Knowledge Loom, from The LAB at Brown University, is a place for teachers to view research on such themes as professional development, to review or add personal "stories" of accomplishments or to participate in online events. You can read questions and answers from professionals on particular topics as well as ask your own questions. Added 4/25/00 http://knowledgeloom.org/index.shtml The National Center for Educational Statistics provides general educational information. In addition, results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are available. See how U. S. fourth, eighth and twelfth graders compare to students in 40 other countries. http://nces.ed.gov/timss/ Other information on TIMSS can be found at the Boston College web page. http://www.timms.org The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) conducts research on topics related to educational testing in K-12. They publish their findings in PDF format and in print. To learn more about PDF documents, click here. The center is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. http://www.cse.ucla.edu/ The National Education Goals Panel is a bipartisan governmental group that has formed to "assess and report state and national progress toward achieving the National Education Goals." You will find information on each state and examples of states whose schools have made strong academic growth. Many, if not all, of the publications are in PDF format. For more information on PDF documents, click here. Added 2/28/00 http://www.negp.gov/index.htm The National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching represents a wide variety of organizations. At this site, you will find information on teacher preparation, professional development and standards and assessment, amongst other topics. Added 3/6/00 http://www.npeat.org/ The NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education funds grants for public school employees, as well as publishing research findings. Browse through the website to research various grant opportunities. Added 2/5/01 http://www.nfie.org/ The U. S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology shares information on educational technology policy decisions and programs. You can also read educational technology headlines and learn more about grants and resources. Added 8/18/00 http://www.ed.gov/Technology/ Rand Education conducts research on ". . . the complex problems facing the nation's education system." For example, Rand will be conducting a 4-year study on the effects of class-size reduction in California. Publications released by Rand are available through the mail (some for free, some for a fee), and some are in PDF format. To learn more about PDF documents, click here. http://www.rand.org/centers/education/ The U.S. Department of Education helped to start ten Regional Educational Laboratories spread across the country. Each laboratory serves one area of the country and takes the leadership in a particular area of educational research and practice. Here are the sites of the ten regional laboratories: The Appalachia Educational Laboratory services Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. http://www.ael.org/index.htm The Laboratory for Student Success serves the Mid-Atlantic region. http://www.temple.edu/LSS/ The Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning serves Colorado, Kansas, Missouri,Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. http://www.mcrel.org The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory serves Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio. http://www.nwrel.org http://www.ncrel.org The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University serves Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. http://www.lab.brown.edu/public/index.shtml The Northwest Regional Education Laboratory serves Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. http://www.nwrel.org Pacific Resources for Education and Learning serves American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia: Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap, Guam, Hawai`i, Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau. http://www.prel.org Serve works with learners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. http://www.serve.org The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory serves Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. http://www.sedl.org WestEd services educators in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. http://www.WestEd.org added on 12/14/99 If you need educational technology information and you don't know where to go, visit the State Technology Contacts page from the U. S. Department of Education. Find addresses, e-mail and phone numbers as well as information on other Educational Technology reports. Added 5/1/01 http://www.ed.gov/Technology/statetech.html Eva Baker, from CRESST, presented the paper "Technology: How Do We Know That it Works?" at The Secretary's Conference on Educational Technology-1999. Read the paper and make your own informed decision. http://www.ed.gov/Technology/TechConf/1999/whitepapers/paper5.html Techlearning.com is an online source for information and ideas for integrating technology. Produced by the people behing Technology & Learning magazine and the Well Connected Educator Web site, you will find news, facts and tips. Added 2/2/00 http://www.techlearning.com If you are interested in finding research on your own, here are search engines specifically geared towards educators. Education World, the Educator's Complete Resource Guide to the Internet, offers education professionals, parents, students, and administrators a place where they can start each day to find the lesson plans and research materials they are looking for. This site is updated weekly with fresh new lesson plans and curriculum ideas, articles on issues that are of interest to educators, parents, and students, and much more. http://www.education-world.com Educatorsnet also has lesson plan web links as well as links for such topics as administration or distance education. http://www.educatorsnet.com Eduhound has done a fantastic job categorizing thousands of educationally relevant websites. The sites are indexed by topic, and you can also search from this site. This would be an excellent resource for educators. Added 4/26/00 http://www.eduhound.com/
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