Helpful Links
Public Schools – National
Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE)
The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), based at the University of Pennsylvania, unites researchers from five of the nation's leading research institutions in an effort to improve elementary and secondary education through practical research. CPRE studies how reforms — in policy, organization, or structure — lead to improvements in instruction; how knowledge and experience influence reforms; and how the links between knowledge, reforms, and practice can be strengthened. Many of their research reports and policy papers are available through the website.
Education Commission of the States (ECS)
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) facilitates the exchange of information, ideas, and experiences among state policymakers and education leaders. As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization involving key leaders from all levels of the education system, ECS creates unique opportunities to build partnerships, share information, and promote the development of policy based on available research and strategies. Their website includes links to research reports on a variety of topics, including accountability, charter schools, school choice, early childhood education, school finance, comprehensive school reform, and post-secondary education.
Education Trust
The Education Trust was created to promote and work for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, kindergarten through college. They collect and report a variety of data about education issues affecting school districts with high concentrations of poor or minority students. Ed Watch Interactive is a user-friendly source of data on educational performance and equity by race and class, kindergarten through college. Through this site, users can select, access, and compare the state and national data that form the core of Ed Watch reporting. The Ed Trust also publishes data analysis and research reports that are available on line as PDF files.
Education Week
Education Week is the weekly "newspaper of record" for K-12 education. The online version includes a searchable archive as well as a "hot topics" section — brief essays that define areas of interest such as accountability, bilingual education, and family involvement. The hot topics section also links the reader to the Ed Week archives and to related websites for each topic. This is an extremely helpful starting point for getting an overview of a specific education issue. You can also subscribe to a weekly email update through this site.
National Center for Comprehensive School Reform (NCCSR)
The National Center for Comprehensive School Reform (NCCSR) website includes an online searchable library and fairly comprehensive database of information about a variety of school reform topics. NCCSR is a partnership of The George Washington University, the Council for Basic Education, and the Institute for Educational Leadership. Together, these three organizations have expertise in school reform, providing technical assistance, and preparing educational leaders at the local, state, and national levels.
Poverty and Race Research Action Council (PRRAC)
The Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) is a non-partisan, national, not-for-profit organization convened by major civil rights, civil liberties, and anti-poverty groups. Its purpose is to link social science research to advocacy work in order to successfully address problems at the intersection of race and poverty. Education is one of their issue areas; articles are available on the website related to special education, the standards movement, and bilingual education. They are also working on a "Stability in Schools" initiative, examining issues related to student mobility.
Public Agenda
Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit public opinion research and citizen education organization based in New York City. One of the organization's goals is to help citizens better understand critical policy issues so they can make their own more informed and thoughtful decisions; the other is to help leaders understand the public's point of view on major policy issues. Education is one of about twenty issue areas covered on their website. For each topic, the website gives an issue overview, facts and trends, links to recent media coverage, and key data about public opinion based on Public Agenda's polling research. You can also download copies of actual research reports through the site. Recent education-related topics include academic standards, vouchers, and teacher characteristics.
US Department of Education
The current design of the official US Department of Education website allows the user to click on "audience" and go directly to pages customized for parents, teachers, principals, researchers, technical assistance providers, and the Department's grantees. The page for "parents and families" shows information about helping your child prepare for school, choosing a preschool, finding an after-school program, supporting your child's achievement, helping children with special needs, and helping children prepare and pay for college. The site also links users to research and statistics (for example, from the National Center for Education Statistics [www.nces.ed.gov]), policy information, and other education resources. |
