School Reform: Resource List

Coalition of Essential Schools
www.essentialschools.org
Founded by noted education reformer Theodore R. Sizer, CES is a national network of over 1,000 schools, 19 regional centers, and a national office. The Coalition’s Ten Common Principles (in the areas of school design, classroom practice, leadership, and community connections) provide a universal thread among members, but each school decides how best to apply them. The CES website provides information about member schools and regional centers, practical tools and professional development resources, discussion groups, and research and publications—including Horace, the CES journal, and Reinventing High School: Six Journeys of Change, case studies of innovative high schools produced collaboratively by CES and Jobs For the Future. A new feature is the CES Fieldbook, an interactive online collection of resources contributed by member schools.

Communities In Schools
www.cisnet.org
Through training, technical assistance, and partnerships, Communities In Schools, Inc. supports a nationwide, independent network of 1,500 schools in 32 states and the District of Columbia devoted to helping young people stay in school, learn, and prepare for life. The website provides program descriptions, including How It Works, and links to network members, state and regional CIS offices, and national partner organizations.

Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago
http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/
CCSR is a public research organization focused on Chicago school reform efforts. Some topics of CCSR’s studies include high school curricular reform, student mobility, and the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative.

Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
www.crosscity.org
For 15 years, this national network of urban school reform leader sought to reconnect schools with their communities and reform urban school districts in nine cities. In January 2007, Cross-City closed its doors. The website, though, remains as a rich source of information about programs centered around making schools accountable to and for all youth, the rightful allocation of funding, and improving teaching.

Education Trust
http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust
The Education Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students and for the permanent closure of the achievement gap through advocacy backed up by policy, research and analysis, and direct assistance to school districts. The Education Trust believes that all children will learn at high levels when they are taught to high levels.

Educators for Social Responsibility
www.esrnational.org
Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) helps teachers create safe, respectful, and productive learning environments and helps young people develop the social skills, emotional competencies, and qualities they need to succeed in school and beyond. The website posts free lesson plans and discussion guides about the war in Iraq and other conflicts, plus a monthly electronic newsletter and other helpful resources about conflict resolution.

Edutopia
www.edutopia.org/
Edutopia is the website for the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), a nonprofit operating foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. GLEF documents, disseminates, and advocates for exemplary programs in K-12 public schools to help these practices spread nationwide.

Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound
www.elob.org
Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound (ELS) is a comprehensive K-12 educational design. The approach combines rigorous academic content and real world projects -- learning expeditions -- with active teaching and community service. The ELS design focuses on teaching in an engaging way. Faculty members receive intensive professional development in curriculum, teaching practices, and building a strong school culture. Expeditionary Learning is now being implemented in over 140 urban, rural, and suburban schools.

Facing History and Ourselves
www.facinghistory.org
Facing History and Ourselves is a national educational and teacher training organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism to promote a more humane and informed citizenry.

Family Involvement Network of Educators
www.finenetwork.org
The Family Involvement Network of Educators (FINE) is a member organization of 800 higher education faculty, trainers, and parent groups seeking to strengthen family involvement in schools. The FINE website offers an array of resources, such as monthly newsletters, bibliographies of current family involvement literature, and a variety of online research briefs, reports, and papers on family-school-community issues.

Institute for Educational Leadership
www.iel.org/
IEL is a  non-profit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC that is aimed at increasing student achievement and preparing young people to meet the challenges of the 21st century. IEL’s mission is to build the capacity of individuals and organizations in education and related fields to work together—across policies, programs and sectors.

KnowledgeWorks Foundation
www.kwfdn.org/
The KnowledgeWorks Foundation aims to increase the number and diversity of people who value and access education, by creating and improving educational opportunity at pre-kindergarten through high school and post-high school institutions, and through community organizations.

Middle College National Consortium
www.laguardia.edu/mcnc/
The Middle College National Consortium is a professional development organization for secondary and post-secondary public-sector educators. The Consortium provides ongoing technical assistance and support to both new and established middle college high schools as they implement educational reforms and engage in professional activities

National Academy Foundation
www.naf.org
The National Academy Foundation (NAF) sustains a nation-wide network of career-themed Academies that are organized as small learning communities.

National Association for Multicultural Education
www.nameorg.org
The National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) is a network of educators from preschool through higher education committed to cultural pluralism and multicultural education. The website posts position papers, resolutions, and a calendar of events; it also hosts a listserv. Its extensive online resources link to articles, journals, publishers, film festivals, curriculum, grant opportunities, and more.

National Association of Secondary School Principals
www.principals.org
In existence since 1916, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. The mission of NASSP is to promote excellence in school leadership.

The National Clearing House for Comprehensive School Reform
www.csrclearinghouse.org
NCCSR collects and disseminates information that builds the capacity of schools to raise the academic achievement of all students. Their website includes models of comprehensive school reform, a library of resources, and step-by-step aids for implementing and assessing school-wide reform programs.

National Council of La Raza
www.nclr.org/
The largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., NCLR works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. NCLR provides support to Hispanic community-based organizations. It also conducts applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy, providing a Hispanic perspective on issues including assets/investments, civil rights/immigration, education, employment and economic status, and health.

National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform
www.mgforum.org/
The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform is an alliance of over 60 educators, researchers, national associations, and officers of professional organizations and foundations committed to promoting the academic performance and healthy development of young adolescents.

National High School Alliance
www.hsalliance.org/
The National High School Alliance is a partnership of over fifty organizations representing a diverse cross-section of perspectives and approaches, but sharing a common commitment to promoting the excellence, equity, and development of high school-age youth.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
www.nwrel.org
The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) is a private, non-profit corporation particularly focused on educational improvement in the Northwest region of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. NWREL posts a variety of online research, including Kathleen Cotton's ground-breaking 1996 study on Small Schools, School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance, as well as her December 2001 literature review, New Small Learning Communities: Findings from Recent Literature.

Public Education Network
www.publiceducation.org 
Public Education Network (PEN) is a national association of local education funds (LEFs) and individuals working to advance public school reform in low-income communities across the country. PEN recently launched an ambitious national campaign called Give Kids Good Schools, which provides Americans with the information and resources they need to take action in their communities and improve their public schools.

Rethinking Schools
www.rethinkingschools.org
The Milwaukee-based Rethinking Schools is an education journal with a focus on equity, written by and for teachers, parents, and students. Balancing classroom practice with educational theory, the activist publication believes public education is central to the creation of a humane, caring, multi-racial democracy. The website posts excerpts from the current issue, an index of articles, archives, and order information for other books and publications. An extensive online resource section links to helpful education sites, with a special collection on school vouchers.

Rural School and Community Trust
www.ruraledu.org
The Rural School and Community Trust is a national nonprofit dedicated to improving rural life by strengthening relationships between schools and communities and engaging students in community-based public work. The Rural Trust website features information and project descriptions of partner schools and communities involved in place-based education in 33 states. It also posts extensive material on rural education public policy, and a library of reports, newsletters, and other proceedings. The site also offers links to a large number of education-related sites and resources, as well as opportunities to join the Rural Trust network.

School Redesign Network at Stanford University
http://schoolredesign.net/
SRN’s mission is to help create, support and sustain equitable schools that are intellectually rigorous, high performing and provide all students with the opportunity to acquire the skills needed for college and to meet the workforce demands of the 21st century. SRN serves as a research-driven resource for schools, districts, charter developers and other support providers attempting to transform instructional, administrative, and organizational systems and cultures.

Small Schools Workshop
www.smallschools.com
A group of organizers, educators, and researchers based in Chicago, the Small Schools Workshop offers a wealth of online resources for those interested in small schools: a calendar of events and training opportunities; books, research reports, and bibliographies; speeches and interviews; listservs and a job board.

Small Schools Project
www.smallschoolsproject.org
The Small Schools Project, part of the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, supports new small schools in Washington state and nationwide. Its web site posts an array of small schools resources--links to small schools and other organizations; research, academic papers, and digests of recent media articles; plus a variety of tools for interested educators and parents.

Teaching for Change
www.teachingforchange.org
A Washington, DC based non-profit, Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with tools to transform schools into socially equitable centers of learning. The website offers a calendar of events, an online catalogue of books, videos, and posters for the classroom, and resources on terrorism, the war on Iraq, and socially relevant curriculum and school reform. “Behind the Headlines” links to sites and stories with critical analysis about current events typically missing from the mainstream media.