Resources

Check It Out!

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has emerged as a leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st Century skills into education. The Partnership encourages schools, districts, and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st Century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change. View the document at www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/P21_Report.pdf. For more information, visit www.21stcenturyskills.org.

Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) High School Redesign Web Page. The MDE has researched the challenges students and school districts face, surveyed what school districts are doing currently, studied best practices from across the country, and tapped into the knowledge of national and international experts. For more information, visit www.michigan.gov/highschool.

American Diploma Project (2004). The Expectations Gap: A 50-State Review of Graduation Requirements, created by Achieve, The Education Trust, and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, gives an overview of graduation requirements in all 50 states and makes a number of recommendations. Download the document at www.achieve.org/achieve.nsf/AmericanDiplomaProject?OpenForm.

Institute for Research and Reform in Education. The institute is a non-profit organization that partners with districts and schools to transform the way they work toward students’ success. “First Things First” (FTF), a framework for school reform, seeks to help students at all academic levels gain the skills to succeed in post-secondary education and good jobs. For more information, visit www.irre.org.

Talent Development High Schools, Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University. The Talent Development High School Model is a comprehensive reform model for large high schools facing serious problems with student attendance, discipline, achievement scores, and dropout rates. For more information, visit www.csos.jhu.edu/tdhs/.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Through its partnerships in communities across the nation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commits to raising the high school graduation rate and helping all students graduate as strong citizens ready for college and work. For more information, visit www.gatesfoundation.org/Education/.

The National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST). NCUST’s mission is to help urban school districts and their partners transform urban schools into places where all students achieve academic proficiency, show a love of learning, and graduate well prepared to succeed in post-secondary education, the workplace, and their communities. For more information visit http://edweb.sdsu.edu/ncust/.

College Board. Preparing a detailed action plan to prepare for college beginning in the freshman year is just one aspect of www.collegeboard.com, a one-stop shopping Web site for students, parents, and educators designed to help ensure a smooth and successful transition from high school to college. For more information, visit www.collegeboard.com.

Michigan Transition Resources for Students With Disabilities. A plan for statewide technical assistance for collaborative transition services has been developed by an interagency team that includes staff from the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Early Intervention Services (OSE/EIS), and the Department of Career Development/Rehabilitation Services. For more information, contact Laurie Bradley, Michigan Transition Resources, (517) 373-2677, bradleylm@michigan.gov.

The Sloan Consortium. The consortium is a fellowship of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education. Created with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan-C encourages the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction. For more information, visit www.sloan-c.org.

Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (2005). The Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) prepared a report on how the United States can best compete economically in the global community of the 21 st century. For more information, view the document at www.nap.edu/books/0309100399/html/1.html.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The center has issued two reports on the educational status of American Indians and Alaska Nations students. Read American Indian and Alaska Native Children: Findings From the Base Year of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005116.pdf. Read Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Nations at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/nativetrends/.

Top of Page