Center for Urban School
Improvement
The University of Chicago's Center for Urban School Improvement
(USI) was established in 1988. It combines the expertise of school
system leaders, professional developers, designers, and
researchers. USI's work is at the core of the University of
Chicago's Urban Education Initiative, an unprecedented endeavor to
take direct responsibility for improving the education of Chicago's
children and for advancing knowledge about urban education of
significance to the nation and the world.
Annenberg
Institute for School Reform
Located at Brown University, the Institute's mission is to develop,
share, and act on knowledge that improves the conditions and
outcomes of schooling in America, especially in urban communities
and in schools serving disadvantaged children. Its current work
focuses on school district redesign, educational leadership,
connecting schools to community assets, rethinking accountability,
and comprehensive school reform design. The Institute evaluates
school reform projects and disseminates information about what's
working.
Catalyst
Chicago Catalyst is an independent newsmagazine
created in 1990 to document, analyze and support school-improvement
efforts in the Chicago Public Schools. It is published by the
Community Renewal Society, a
faith-based organization founded in 1882 that works to create
racially and economically just communities in metropolitan
Chicago.
Center for
Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, its mission is to
assist schools and districts engaged in comprehensive school reform
and improvement by providing reliable information about
research-based strategies and assistance. The Center offers news,
lists of events, tools, guides research publications, and a
School
Reform and Improvement Database.
Designs for
Change
Founded in 1977, Designs for Change looks to "serve as a catalyst
for major improvements in the public schools serving the 50 largest
cities in the country, with a particular emphasis on
Chicago".
Illinois
School Reform Resource Locator
Hosted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this
collection of annotated links categorizes the information into the
subjects of: Innovative Programs | Illinois School Reform
Initiatives | National School Reform Initiatives | School
Consolidation| |Teaching as a Profession | University-School
Linkages| .
National
Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)--Education
Reform
NBPTS establishes standards for what teachers should know and be
able to do and offers a voluntary certification program. It
advocates education reforms that would incorporate its standards
into American education and the website offers examples of how
utilizing the standards has resulted in school improvement.
National Institute for
Urban School Improvement (NIUSI)
This organization works to link school reform networks with special
education networks in order to build capacity for sustainable and
successful urban schools. The Institute "synthesizes existing
research into accessible media, both print and electronic, that is
used to support efforts on the part of the public, families,
professionals, and advocacy organizations to create inclusive
school communities" and the website includes a variety of full-text
reports and publications.
Pathways to School
Improvement
From the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), the
goal of Pathways is to "synthesize research, policy and best
practices on issues critical to educators engaged in school
improvement." The current areas of emphasis are assessment, at-risk
students, family and community, instruction, leadership, literacy,
mathematics and science, policy, professional development, and
technology in education.
Public Education
Network
This organization works to build public demand and mobilize
resources for quality public education for all children through a
national constituency of Local Education Funds (LEFs) and
individuals. It focuses especially on school reform in low-income
communities and works to educate the nation about the relationship
between school quality and the quality of community and public
life. The LEFs solicit corporate support and operate on a venture
capital model to invest in high impact school improvement
activities. PEN's national website offers a variety of reports and
resources to support activities of the local groups including some
Illinois materials.
School Reform
News
This is a monthly publication from the Heartland Institute for
those involved with school reform. It summarizes research findings,
includes statistics and data, reports on legislation and
initiatives, and offers other full-text features. The Institute's
philosophy is in support of "individual liberty, personal
responsibility, and limited government" and it offers Policy Bot, "the
Internet's most extensive clearinghouse for the work of free-market
think tanks, with more than 10,000 studies and commentaries from
over 350 think tanks and advocacy groups."