Here you'll find directories, contacts, organizations, links, and other helpful resources.

Directories

State School Boards Associations

State school boards associations provide leadership, services, and products to support local school boards efforts to ensure an excellent and equitable education for every child.

State Departments of Education

State departments of education have responsibility at the state level for public early childhood programs, K-12, higher education, and technical and community educational institutions.

Sources of education data

Find out how your child's school is performing, compare your district's education spending to neighboring communities, check up on school safety, and more

Resource organizations

These pages list well-established and respected organizations that provide additional information about many of the topics covered by the Center.

Presentations

High-stakes testing and instruction: What the research says. (Powerpoint) (PDF). What can school districts do to ensure testing is used in support of good teaching practices and high standards?

What's so good about public education? More than you sometimes hear. (Powerpoint) (PDF ).  Getting underneath the data helps us see where we are succeeding and where exactly we need to focus more support to get help to those students who need it.

Is the sky falling or not? (Powerpoint) (PDF) What do we really know about high school grad rates, international comparisons, and the state of education?

Advancing Quality Pre-K in All States (Powerpoint) (PDF) Overview of The Pew Charitable Trusts initiative to encourage high-quality early learning opportunities for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Presentation by Sara Watson, Pew Charitable Trusts.

Exploring the School Connection  (PDF). How does pre-K relate to school improvement? What child outcomes should we expect? Presentation by Jana Martella, executive director, National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education.

Pre-K Momentum (PDF) Progress toward Pre-K Now's vision of all children entering kindergarten prepared to succeed. Presentation by Libby Doggett, executive director, Pre-K Now. 

State Pre-K Programs: What Do We Know? (Powerpoint) (PDF) What are the short- and long-term benefits of pre-K? What does the research say about pre-K quality? Presentation by Eileen O'Brien and Chuck Dervarics, education researchers and writers.

Pre-kindergarten: What research says (Powerpoint) Patte Barth, director of the Center for Public Education, and Sandy Cajigas of NSBA’s National Affiliate program provide an overview of pre-k research, state trends, and the federal role in this presentation to the Washington State School Directors’ Association annual conference in Seattle on November 15, 2007.

Archived Chats

"Homework: What is it Good for?" March 1, 2007

"International Assessments and Student Achievement," Feb. 1, 2007

"TIme, Instruction, and Student Learning," Nov. 1, 2006

"The Straight Story on High School Graduation Rates," June 22, 2006

Glossary

Lost in a thicket of education-ese? Our glossary will guide you to clarity.