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School Improvement

Sub-Topics
Bullying
Charter Schools
Fund Raising
Learning Community
Professional Development
Voucher Systems

Also Try

1. Conflict Prevention and Mediation
2. Emotional Intelligence
3. Gaining Grants
4. Involving Community
5. Involving Family
6. Multidisciplinary
7. Problem Solving
8. Safe Schools and Combating School Violence

Books

1. Role of Leadership in School Reform (U.S. Department of Education) 9-96

Discussions

1. A Discussion of Learning Organizations
2. Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)
   "The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) promotes the use of telecommunications to improve K-12 learning. Members represent state and local education agencies, nonprofits, companies and individuals who share our vision. Our goals are Leadership Development, Advocacy, Coalition Building, and Emerging Technology." 11-01
   

Lists

1. -Middle School Principal's Resources (MiddleWeb)
   Provides a well organized and annotated list of resources of value for a middle school principal, especially one interested in reform issues.
2. Department of Education Announcements
3. Education Resource Organizations by State (US Dept of Education)
4. Education Statistics (US Dept of Education)
   Contains over 2,600 tables, charts, and texts on education in the USA.
5. Education Statistics - International Perspective (US Dept of Education)
   Contains comparative information on education in the USA. 2-00
6. Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education Projects (FIPSE)
7. Law Related to Schools (SchoolLaw.com)
   Provides links and news related to legal issues for schools. On the Home page is the School Law Advisory, a quarterly newsletter that is available by subscription. 8-00
8. National Dropout Prevention Network
9. Pathways to School Improvement (NCREL)
   Provides essays by topic. 11-01
10. Priorities for Education - Clinton Administration (US Department of Education)
    Provides the Secretary's initiatives, including federal programs and the seven priorities of the Clinton administration.
11. Research and Statistics for the Field of Education (U.S. Department of Education)
    Provides a one-stop location for finding the answers to research questions in the field of education.
12. Resource Room (NEA)
    Provides assistance in school improvement, especially as it relates to integrating technology. Provides 9 sections.
13. School Reports
    "Free in-depth public school information. Compare three school districts of your choice side by side over more than 100 criteria."
14. Teaching Positions Wanted or Available (Academic Employment Network)
15. Title I Schools Recognized for Excellence

News

1. Education News (Time.com)
   Provides stories about findings and issues important in the field of education. 9-00

Papers

1. A Nation At Risk
2. Achievement of U.S. Students (NCES) 3-00
3. Bush Education Proposal to Congress (U.S. Department of Education)
   Provides a summary of key provisions of President Bush's proposal for education reform.
4. Comprehensive Regional Assistance Centers
5. Connecting Schools With Communities (American Association of School Administrators - Hill)
   "The key in many communities is connecting public schools to the resources in their communities." Describes six forces that hurt school performance and suggests directions for solutions. The title of the article is "Breaking the Hermetic Seal." 3-01
6. Diversity in Education (Association of American Colleges and Universities - Diversity Digest)
   Provides over two dozen resources for supporting diversity in education, arranged by topic. 3-01
7. Drug Impact Index (Regional Drug Initiative)
   Provides a format for communities to display progress in reducing harm from drugs. 1-02
8. Education in the USA - A Report Card (Time.com)
   Provides a map of states, color coded to show the per student expenditures. By selecting a state on the map, you can learn details on the state's performance, as well as how it is are approaching education. 9-00
9. Educational Partnerships Case Studies
10. Emotional Intelligence - Research on Bringing EI into the Workplace (Emotional Intelligence Consortium)
    Provides summary of findings from 30 years of research on the development of emotional intelligence in the workplace. Can be applied to school environments. 10-99
11. Engaged Institutions (National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges - Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities)
    Provides essays and examples of views on engagement of higher education institutions. 2-02
12. Error Rates of Filtering Programs (Hazelton)
    Provides results of a study of the effectiveness of some of the most commonly used filtering programs. Programs tested included AOL Parental Controls, Cyber Patrol, SurfControl (SurfWatch), SafeServer, and N2H2 (Bess). 10-00
13. Essays for School Improvement (Editorial Products in Education - Parker)
    Provides issue papers related to inclusion, class size, school-to-work, bilingual education and three dozen other topics.
14. Family Involvement with Student
15. Federal Education Budget
16. Federal Education Programs for Excelling in Science and Math
17. Field-Initiated Research Studies (National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policymaking and Management) 7-00
18. Governance and Organizational Management (NCREL)
    Provides an essay with links. 1-01
19. Guidelines for Making Schools Safer (Education World)
    Provides suggestions and resources for making schools safer. 6-00
20. Hardware and Technology Donations (Annenberg)
    Provides sources for funding or donations in hardware and technology for K-12 schools, teachers, or students. 3-00
21. Helping Students Assess Their Thinking (CCT) 3-00
22. Improving African American Student Achievement (NWREL - Kuykendall)
    Provides ways that teachers can improve their feedback to African American students and, as a result, contribute to their academic achievement. "Good's summary (1981) of teachers' behavior toward those students perceived as low achievers includes:
    
    providing students with general, often insincere praise
    providing them will less feedback,
    demanding less effort of them,
    interrupting them more often,
    seating them farther away from the teacher,
    paying less attention to them,
    calling on them less often,
    waiting less time for them to respond to questions,
    criticizing them more often, and
    smiling at them less.
    
    Research indicates that reversing these negative behaviors improves student achievement. 3-02
23. Indicators for School Success (NCES) 3-00
24. Initiatives of the Department of Education for 1997-8 (US Dept of Education)
25. Innovative Approaches to Integrating Technology (NEA)
    Provides a dozen approaches to innovation, such as "School Stories" and "Teacher TV."
26. Leadership (NCREL)
    Provides essays with links. 1-01
27. Manual to Combat Truancy
28. Motivating Students (Catalyst - Duffrin)
    Examines the need to motivate students to learn in the classroom. 3-01
29. Motivating Students - Research Points to Solutions (Catalyst-Chicago.org - Duffrin)
    "Factors such as race, the percentage of low-income students at the school and the poverty level of the neighborhood had no bearing on students’ effort or interest in school work, the study found." 3-01
30. Nation's Report Card (NAEP) 6-01
31. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
32. National Institute for Urban School Development (Education Development Center)
    "The mission of the National Institute for Urban School Improvement is to support inclusive urban communities, schools, and families to build their capacity for sustainable, successful urban education." 11-99
33. No Child Left Behind Act (Thomas)
    Provides H.R. 1, new education legislation enacted in January 2002. The Act focuses heavily on improvement of assessment and then, if a school fails to meet standards, alternatives for parents. the official title of the act is "To close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind."
    1-02
34. Performance Report - ABC Report (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction)
    Describes the performance of North Carolina schools.
35. Professionalization of Teaching (NCES)
    Provides results of a study on the professionalization of teaching, especially in relationship to teachers' commitment to their careers. 3-00
36. Promising Practices in Educational Partnerships
37. Providing Professional Development Activities (NCREL)
    Provides an essay with links. 1-01
38. Reform - 12 Studies in School Reform (OERI)
    "In 1991, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement funded 12 studies to examine various aspects of reform, from assessment of student performance to the uses of technology. Each study has produced cumulative findings that provide a basis for forming broad and generalizable perspectives on reform. A thirteenth study called Fitting the Pieces looks across the 12 major studies to identify the essential elements of planning, implementing, and sustaining reform."
39. Regional Educational Laboratories
    Provides information on the national system of education laboratories, centers designed to provide assistance to K-12 schools. 2-01
40. Report Card on Education in the USA (Education Week)
    Provides a map to show performance in education by state (under the category Report Cards) Also provides essays on issues and trends, as well as the results of a study on the status of standards. 1-01
41. School Dropout Rates (National Center for Education Statistics)
    Provides state level information on the rates that students drop out of school. 5-00
42. School Dropout Statistics (Intercultural Development Research Association)
    Summarizes national school dropout statistics. 2-02
43. School Improvement (Florida Education - Office of School Improvement)
    Provides two dozen essays to foster classroom and school improvement. Provided in PDF format.
44. School Improvement Issues (Achieve Communications - InsideEducation.net)
    Provides articles for school improvement, with a heavy emphasis on utilizing technology. 10-01
45. School Uniforms Manual (U.S. Department of Education)
    Discusses issues related to school uniforms. 11-01
46. Schools Can Instill Healthy Habits (applesforhealth)
    A study shows schools can instill healthy habits in students. Students from ethnically diverse backgrounds in four states say the diet and exercise principles they learned years before in an elementary school-based intervention program continue to be part of their lives. 09-03-99.
47. Secretary's Statement on Religious Expression, 1995 (U.S. Department of Education - Riley) 9-01
48. Sex Education Controversy (HighWired.com - Collins)
    Discusses key issues associated with sex education in schools. 3-01
49. Statistics - Basic Education Facts (NCES)
    Provides data about schools, teachers, and achievement. 12-99
50. Stories from Promise to Practice (Regional Laboratories)
51. Superintendent in the Classroom (Faculty Shack - Truitt)
    Provides the insights gained by a superintendent who taught randomly selected classes to improve his understanding of teacher experiences. "In a perfect world, the superintendent would be a master teacher, one capable of handling any classroom challenge. I don’t think it’s realistic to expect superintendents to be master teachers in our specialized school systems, but they should know what goes on in classrooms." 1-02
52. Systemic Assessment for Quality Schools (Kelly)
    Provides key concepts from Deming and others to foster a systemic approach to improvement and self-assessment. Includes a free copy of the book.
53. Technology Challenge Grants in 1996
54. Telecommunications Discounts for Schools (Report)
55. Telecommunications Discounts for Schools Planned (News Release)
56. Test Scores Compared to Learning (Center for Education Research, Analysis, and Innovation - Berlak)
    The article is "Yes, President Bush, Johnny's Test Scores May Be Up, But Can He Read?" It provides research results that indicate that relying heavily on standardized test scores, such as in Texas, has had strong negative consequences, especially for the poor, immigrants, and persons of color. 3-01
57. Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
58. Time Spent Teaching Core Academic Subjects (NCES)
    Provides the results from a comparative national study on how teachers actually spend their time. 3-00
59. Title I New Schoolwide Program (Dept of Ed)
60. Title I Resources (Dept of Ed) 5-00
61. U.S. Department of Education Phone Search
62. Universal Standards for Critical Thinking (Elder and Paul) 3-00
63. Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative (Education Development Center)
    Provides a forum for urban special education leadership nationally.
64. Valuable Intellectual Traits (CCT) 3-00
65. Waste - Creating Less Trash at School (Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance)
    Provides suggestions for reducing waste at school. Uses PDF format. 12-01
66. Wellness - The State of Our Children 1996 (Children Now)
    Provides basic information on the status of children in California, such as dropout rate, child care, and homelessness.
67. What Research Says About Student Assessment (US Office of Education) 5-00
68. What Should I Know About Gaining Education Department Grants?
69. Where Can You Turn for Performance-Based Testing? (US Office of Education) 5-00
70. Zero Tolerance, Zero Sense (applesforhealth)
    "The desire of parents to make sure their children's schools are safe has led to zero tolerance policies that leave school administrators little room to take individual circumstances into consideration." 01-21-00.

Periodicals

1. Community Updates
2. Department of Education Newsletter (EDInfo)
3. Education Issues - With Humor and Thoughtful Discussion (Faculty Shack)
   Provides articles for high school teachers and administrators in a magazine format. "Our quarterly publication will provide teachers with a thoughtful and often humorous look at the realities teachers face. The journal will also serve as a clearinghouse for new approaches to classroom challenges. Finally, FacultyShack hopes to provide a forum for ongoing discussion of complex educational questions." 1-02
4. Improving America's Schools (US Office of Education)
5. Rethinking Schools
   Provides articles to stimulate discussion about current events and perspectives on schooling. 10-99
6. School Administrator (American Association of School Adminisrators)
   Provides a periodical, including past issues.
7. School Improvement Research Series (NWREL) 1-01
8. Technology in the School (National School Board Association - Electronic-School.com) 9-01
9. Urban Educator 10-00

Projects

1. Fund Raising for Schools Online (SchoolCash.com)
   Provides opportunities for schools to conduct online fund raising projects. 3-00
2. Grade Checker (Fife Schools - Johnson)
   Provides a sample of how a grade checker Web site could be instituted within a school to improve collaboration among teachers, students, and parents.
3. Grant Awards Available, Grades 6 - 8 (National Science Foundation and Bayer)
   Provides grant awards to teachers and students for projects in science and technology. 11-01
4. Teacher Leadership Forum and Questions (Dept of Ed)

Purchase Resources

1. British Education (Britain)
2. Purchasing in Groups (Epylon)
   Provides a service for educators to purchase education related materials and supplies as a group. 3-00
3. Safe Server for Schools and Libraries (Bess)
   Provides a service that blocks objectionable Web materials through the server. Sites that are blocked have been reviewed by humans (rather than just by keyword) and the filtering can be configured for specific end users or desktops. 6-00.
4. School Uniforms (French Toast)
   A large national supplier of school uniforms. 8-99

Research

1. Discipline in the Classroom - Conclusions from Research (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory - Cotton)
   Summarizes findings from research on the most effective methods of schoolwide and classroom discipline and management. "During most of its twenty-two year existence, the Annual Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools has identified 'lack of discipline' as the most serious problem facing the nation's educational system." 3-02

Standards

1. Standards and Reform (MiddleWeb)
   Provides sources of information related to use of standards as part of educational reform.