School Reform & Technology Planning

School Reform Resources

General Resources	Standards	Scheduling
Fundraising	Libraries	Other Reform Issues
	Digital High School

General Reform Resources

Character Education and Service Learning Resources Online: This is a collection of informational resources related to both Character Education and Service Learning (in two sections). It is the online version of an article printed in Social Studies Review. The links are arranged so that background and general resources are listed at first, followed by more specific items after. At the end is a small set of related resources.
Does School/College Make a Difference?: Excellent analysis of education and its relationship to economics and income, including international implications.
The History of Education Site: Links to Web sites and documents that are related to the history of education.
Educational Research and Improvement: Reports and Studies: The following is a collection of full-text, comprehensive, timely analyses of major educational topics such as systemic reform, the relationship between time and learning, and research-informed transformation of instruction. Includes several classic reports and studies.
EdWeb's Reform Center: A wonderful gathering of various resources, from school reform to education technology, well-organized and quite comprehensive.
Engines for Education: Interesting hypertext book about what a professor thinks is wrong with education, and how to reform it. W3 version.
Planning Resources: This is a guide for teachers, administrators, coordinators and community members with an interest in using technology to improve education for all students.
Search the ERIC Digests: The ERIC Digests are short reports (1,000 - 1,500 words) on topics of prime current interest in education, targeted specifically for teachers, administrators, policymakers, and other practitioners, but generally useful to the broad educational community.
National Education Goals: Building a Nation of Learners: This page provides electronic access to a variety of publications issued by the National Education Goals Panel. Includes: Goals Reports, Annual reports designed to measure the amount of progress made by the nation and the states toward the eight National Education Goals; and Standards and Assessments, which includes a 1997 series of papers on state and professional efforts to implement challenging academic standards.
Getting By: What American Teenagers Really Think About Their Schools: Public high school students want their schools to have much tougher academic standards and higher expectations, according to Getting By: What American Teenagers Really Think About Their Schools, a new study released today by Public Agenda.
The Building Blocks of Research: An Overview of Design, Process and Outcomes: This document, created by Debbie Abilock, tries to tease out the relationships among information literacy, problem solving, curriculum design and teaching.
Improving America's Schools: Legislation and planning related to the national push for K-12 restructuring.
Coalition of Essential Schools: One of the visionary leaders in the school restructuring movement.
Education Commission of the States: The Education Commission of the States provides support to state-level educational organizations.
Finding Time for Professional Development: Article explores the vital concern of how to carve out time, opportunity, and other resources teachers need to realize the vision of education reform.
Rethinking Schools Online - http://www.rethinkingschools.org/index.shtml: Rethinking Schools began as a local effort to address problems such as basal readers, standardized testing, and textbook-dominated curriculum. Since its founding in 1986, it has grown into a nationally prominent publisher of educational materials." This website provides recent articles published in the periodical, Rethinking Schools as well as an index to back issues. "While writing for a broad audience, Rethinking Schools emphasizes problems facing urban schools, particularly issues of race." Links are also provided to other online resources on school reform, a catalog of publications and a "Just For Fun" area.

Standards

MCREL Standards and Benchmarks Database: McREL researchers consulted 116 national- and state-level documents that address standards and benchmarks in various subject domains. This effort produced the 255 standards with their accompanying 3,968 benchmarks that are detailed in this text. By the noted educators John S. Kendall and Robert J. Marzano.
California Subject Matter Standards: The subject matter standards adopted and/or now being considered by the California State Board of Education are available here.
Developing Educational Standards: An annotated list of Internet sites with K-12 educational standards and curriculum frameworks documents. (Putnam Valley Schools, Putnam Valley, N.Y.)
Challenge Standards: CDE document that outlines Superintendent Eastin's vision of the future.

Fundraising

The Foundation Center: A clearinghouse of information on how and where to obtain grants. This is the major resource for all types of grants.
Grantmaker Information: Links to sources of information on organizations that make grants.

Scheduling

Block Scheduling: ERIC Digest reviews the current research and thinking on the topic of block scheduling.
Additional Resources for Block Scheduling: This thorough collection of links about block scheduling offers a wide variety of information on this restructuring approach.

Libraries

Do Digital Libraries Need Librarians?: A November 1997 ONLINE Magazine article by two academic librarians (Lisa Dallape Matson and David J. Bonski) examines the need for librarians for digital libraries.
The Essential Library: Partner in School Design: Landmark article on school libraries in the Coalition of Essential Schools approach, by Mark Gordon, Librarian, Central Park East Secondary School, New York City (an outstanding Coalition school).
Cybrary Library Resources Page: Links to sites about the use of libraries as information sources.

Other Reform Issues

Critical Issue: Working in Partnership with Business, Labor, and the Community: Effective school-to-work programs are based on strong partnerships between local schools and businesses.
National Service-Learning Cooperative Clearinghouse: The initial goal of the NSLC is to assist K-12 Learn and Serve America funded programs and other educators and community agencies to develop and expand service-learning opportunities for all youth. Includes a wide array of resources, inlcuding literature,programs, events, contacts, and information on demand!
Charter Schools: Information on California's Charter Schools system.
California School Recognition Program: State programs that recognize schools of special distinction in the state.
California School-to-Career State Plan: The California state school to work plan represents all of the principal policy and political interests in education reform.
Definitions of SCANS Principles, Competencies and Foundation Skills: Extended definition of the SCANS Competencies, as recommended by the SCANS Report.
Achieving Necessary Skills. What work requires of schools: In-depth analysis of the SCANS Report. "All American high school students must develop a new set of competencies and foundation skills if they are to enjoy a productive, full, and satisfying life."
GOALS 2000: U.S. goals for K-12 schools outlined here.
The Merrow Report: Excellent PBS documentary series on K-12 education.
Manual To Combat Truancy: Truancy is a gateway to crime. High rates of truancy are linked to high daytime burglary rates and high vandalism. According to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, truancy is the most powerful predictor of juvenile delinquent behavior. This resource offers solutions to the problem.
EPGY Stanford: The Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) is a continuing project at Stanford University offering computer-based courses in mathematics and the mathematical sciences for bright young students through the Stanford Continuing Studies Program.
Association for Experiential Education: Experiential education is a process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill, and value from direct experiences. (AEE) is a not-for-profit, international professional organization with roots in adventure education, committed to the development, practice, and evaluation of experiential learning in all settings.