Classroom Management

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The National Priorities Project Database.
User-friendly database offers a wide range of national, state, and county-level data and statistics relating to federal policies and our communities. Much of the information goes back to 1983, and is updated regularly. For example, you can find out what the federal investment in adult education or Even Start has been in Texas for a given year using the database’s simple search procedures.

Basic Family Budget Calculator
Website of the Economic Policy Institute offers a tool that might be used in life skills or financial literacy activities, with great potential for critical thinking. The Basic Family Budget Calculator can be used to determine the income needed for particular types of families to make ends meet. Because costs of goods and services vary across the U.S., the calculator customizes the budgets for every U.S. community — 400 in all. Simply select from one of six family types, pick a state, and then select a community to see how much that family is likely to need for housing, food, child care, etc.

Language Through Art: An ESL Enrichment Curriculum. The J. Paul Getty Trust has an education website featuring ten lessons designed for adult ESL students at the intermediate and advanced levels. Students learn new vocabulary, and practice using it by looking at and describing portraits, landscapes, and narrative works of art.

National College Transition Network. Under the auspices of World Education in Boston, the goal of the National College Transition Network (NCTN) is to support ABE staff, programs, and states in establishing and strengthening ABE-to-college transition services through technical assistance, professional development, collegial sharing, advocacy and increased visibility for this critical sector of the adult basic education system. Network partners include: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy; Adult Education Professional Development Consortium; and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. The basic membership is free and gives members access to a wide variety of resources.

Using Evidence to Improve Education. The Winter 2005 issue of Voices
in Urban Education, from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, focuses on evidence-based practice. It provides four perspectives on the use of evidence to improve education at the district and state levels and offers provocative ideas about what counts as evidence and ways evidence can inform practice.

SchoolMatters. This Web-based national education data service provides indepth information and analysis about public schools, districts and state education systems — potentially invaluable information for education grant proposal writers. Once you follow the links to the Texas page, particularly note the Advanced Search under Search & Comparison Tools, which allows you to find data by county or city. Funded by the Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the National Education Data Partnership, SchoolMatters.com is the largest easily searchable collection of education performance data ever assembled. In addition to student achievement information, financial data and demographic breakdowns, the service includes powerful analytical tools and objective analyses provided by Standard & Poor’s that provide education leaders with the information they need to make better-informed decisions.