Links to useful sites and information

ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development): www.ascd.org
ASCD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that addresses all aspects of effective teaching and learning—such as professional development, educational leadership, and capacity building. ASCD offers broad, multiple perspectives in reporting key policies and practices.

AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination): www.avidregion4.org
The mission of the AVID Program is to assist students – especially those in the middle – to succeed in a rigorous curriculum and enroll in a four year college. AVID Region IV includes more than 90 schools in the seven counties of the Bay Area.

BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment): www.btsa.ca.gov or www.ccbtsa.org
The BTSA Program is an initiative to provide formative assessment and individualized support based on assessment information for beginning teachers. BTSA is co-administered by the California Department of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC).

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC):
www.ctc.ca.gov
CTC is a permanent, independent commission created in 1970 to strengthen the effectiveness of California's educators and their formal preparation. The CTC fulfills policy-setting, regulatory, and accrediting functions in the state.
1900 Capitol Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95814
( 916) 445-0184

California Comprehensive Center at WestEd:  http://www.cacompcenter.org/cs/cacc/print/htdocs/cacc/home.htm
The California Comprehensive Center (CA CC) West Ed, in partnership with American Institutes for Research and School Services, is part of a federal network of 16 Regional Comprehensive Centers serving individual or clusters of states. The CA CC provides assistance to the California Department of Education and statewide groups and organizations to help implement fully the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, improve student achievement, and close the achievement gap in California.

The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning:
http://www.cftl.org/
The Center is a public, not-for-profit organization, founded on the belief that the knowledge and skills of teachers are key to improved student achievement. The strategic purpose of the Center is to strengthen the continuing development of California’s teacher force in order to provide a rigorous and balanced curriculum for all students, thereby ensuring every child’s continued intellectual, ethical and social development.

The Center's Web site features recent information on teacher development including research, state and national policy and legislative initiatives, and models for effective practice.

CLRN (California Learning Resource Network): www.clrn.org
CLRN provides educators with a “one-stop” resource for critical information needed for the selection of supplemental learning resources aligned to the academic content standards as well as providing a searchable standards database.

CTAP (California Technology Assistance Project): www.ctap4.org
CTAP is a statewide educational technology leadership initiative, providing assistance to schools and districts in integrating technology into teaching and learning. In developing CTAP, the earlier SB 1510 Education Technology Act programs were restructured in order to place control at local and regional levels.

DataQuest: data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest
DataQuest, part of the CDE web site, helps you find data reports and facts about California schools and districts.

Ed-Data (Education Data Partnership): www.ed-data.k12.ca.us
The Ed-Data Web site offers quick access to timely and comprehensive fiscal, demographic, and performance data about K-12 education in California. Ed-Data also provides a tool to access information and improve decision making in managing education's resources.

EdSource Online: www.edsource.org
EdSource is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to clarify complex education issues and to promote thoughtful policy decisions about public school improvement.

Greater Bay Area Reading Implementation Center: www.gbaric.org
The Greater Bay Area RIC focuses on ensuring that all students have access to high quality curriculum and instruction to meet or exceed the English-language arts content standards by providing educators with professional development on the State’s language arts programs.

Just for the Kids: www.just4kids.org
The JFTK web site provides information learned from their studies of more than 300 successful districts and schools, and access to school improvement tools designed to help educators analyze their school’s performance and identify proven practices to support goals for improvement.

NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress): nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard
NAEP, also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is a nation-wide, continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Since 1969, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. history, civics, geography, and the arts.

No Child Left Behind: www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
This Web site offers "one-stop-shopping" for links to legislation, Federal Register Notices, Policy Guidance, and Grant Applications for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Links to Legislation, Regulations, and Policy Guidance for programs still being implemented under the Improving America's Schools Act are also on this site.

RSDSS (Region IV System of District and School Support): www.bayregionssc.org
RSDSS’s focus is to build a school district's capacity to support its low-performing schools and to create a system in which districts and schools have access to effective, efficient regional resources to support higher student achievement. This web site provides helpful information, technical assistance, and regional and statewide resources.

School Services of California:  http://www.sscal.com/
School Services of California is a business, financial, management, and advocacy resource for educational agencies in California.  SSC’s staff members come from the ranks of school business officials and California state government.  SSC provides an array of services, including information services, legislative or governmental advocacy, financial and business consulting, as well as workshops and training that are designed to help in solving problems and improving student performance.

U.S. Department of Education:  http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml
ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. Its original directive remains its mission today — to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation. The web site offers a range and an ever-growing collection of information about the department, including initiatives

WestEd: www.wested.org
WestEd is a nonprofit research, development, and service agency. The agency traces its history back to 1966 when Congress created a network of Regional Educational Laboratories. In 1995, two of those original laboratories — Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development and Southwest Regional Laboratory — joined forces to form WestEd.

What Works Clearinghouse:  http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is a project of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, established to provide educators, policymakers, and the public with a central and independent source of scientific evidence of what works in education.

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