Reading Assignments

Graded Activities & Assessment

Announcements & Updates

Digital Age 1 Course Dave Moursund's Websites Oregon Technology in Education Council Search Engine

The course readings will come from in-class handouts and from Websites. In addition, you may want to refer back to the Bibliography in the Digital Age I course.

Bibliography

Apple, Inc.[Online] Accessed: http://www.apple.com/education/professional development/.

The Apple Website contains a number of excellent aids to teachers.

Bransford, J.D.; A. L. Brown; & R.R. Cocking: editors (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. [Online]. Accessed 3/15/01: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/6160.html.

Note that the entire text of this excellent book is available online.

Building the 21st Century School [Online] Accessed 3/28/01: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/IDT/index.html. Quoting from the Website:

This site is dedicated to helping you and your school save money and time by coordinating your technology and facilities infrastructure needs. It is designed as an aid to school, district and other educational personal. We offer you a complete systems approach to the comprehensive planning and implementation of technology in schools as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Educational Reform Must Go Beyond Federal Laws and Standards [Online]. Accessed 2/8/02: http://www.ets.org/news/02011701.html.

The complete document from Educational Testing Service is available online. Quoting from the Website:

Facing the Hard Facts in Education Reform identifies key factors that influence educational achievement that are often overlooked during education reform. The author, Paul Barton, of ETS's Policy Information Center, says these issues need to be included in current reform efforts.

Barton notes that a decade of research has identified the following obstacles to high academic performance by the nation's students:

• increased tardiness, absenteeism, drug use, and verbal abuse of teachers by students, as well as the presence of gangs in schools
• weak signals students receive from parents on the importance of doing better academically, too much emphasis on extracurricular affairs, and students' fear of being less popular if they work hard
• mixed messages from prospective employers who fail to look at student transcripts when they hire and colleges that establish low admission standards
• failure to understand the importance of preschool development and the critical role that parents play in such areas as reading to young children and restricting TV watching
• lack of effective use of computers in the classroom, due in large part to inadequate preparation of teachers in their use
• viewing the test itself as the treatment, rather than using standardized tests to determine whether efforts to create content standards, performance standards, curriculum change, and teacher preparation are working

"In identifying these areas, I do not suggest that we lessen our efforts in implementing the standards-based reform agenda," Barton concludes. "It makes good and common sense to make instruction rigorous, set high standards, and develop quality standardized tests. However, in a full standards-based reform effort, testing is just one important component."

Effective Math and Science Inservice [Online]. Accessed 2/4/02: http://www.aera.net/communications/news/020128.htm. The following is a Press Release quoted from the Website.

Turnabout New Study Reports How Math and Science Teachers Increase Their Own Knowledge and Skills Inservice Teacher Education Helps Improve Classroom Practice

WASHINGTON, January 28, 2002-Each day, hundreds of math and science teachers throughout the United States stand before eager students to help them meet the high standards that states and school districts have adopted. But how do teachers themselves deepen their own knowledge and skills?

In the first large-scale comparison of how different characteristics of professional development affect teachers' learning, a team of educational researchers identified six features that make professional development effective and improve instruction in math and science. These features are based on responses from a nationally representative sample of 1,027 public school math and science teachers in kindergarten through grade 12.

The team's findings are reported in the winter issue of the American Educational Research Journal, a peer-reviewed publication of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The project was conducted at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Washington, D.C., with funds from the U.S. Department of Education's Planning and Evaluation Service. It was carried out as part of the National Evaluation of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program.

The six aspects of teachers' professional development that emerged as extremely important in affecting teacher learning are:

• Form. Traditional classes, workshops or a "hands-on" activity like mentoring were less effective than reform types of activities, such as teacher networks or study groups.
• Duration. Longer professional development programs are more likely to make an impact. Sustained and intensive programs are better than shorter ones.
• Collective participation. Activities designed for teachers in the same school, grade or subject are better than professional development programs that do not target groups of teachers who work together.
• Content. Professional development courses that focus on how to teach but also on what to teach-the substance and subject matter-are key.

Elementary schoolteachers especially may have taken fewer courses in science or math and may be less familiar with the subject matter, the researchers note.

• Active learning. This aspect is fostered through observing and being observed teaching, planning for classroom implementation, reviewing student work, and presenting, leading and writing.
• Coherence. Teachers need to perceive professional development as part of coherent programs of teacher learning and development that support other activities at their schools, such as the adoption of new standards or textbooks.

"Professional development can support teachers' effectiveness," says Michael S. Garet, chief research scientist at AIR. He and Beatrice Birman, managing research scientist at AIR, directed the project, along with Andrew C. Porter, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at University of Wisconsin-Madison and also AERA president. Other senior research scientists on the project team include Laura Desimone, now at Vanderbilt University, and Kwang suk Yoon at AIR.

The team's project found that much professional development currently offered lacks the six features. "Professional development largely has been a voluntary activity that teachers can pick and choose from a collection of offerings," Garet notes, "but it needs to become a more significant part of schools' and districts' plans of what teachers do."

Efforts are underway in several states for teachers to increase their professional development via distance learning or online programs, he adds.

"If we are serious about using professional development as a mechanism to improve teaching, we need to invest in activities that have the characteristics that research shows foster improvements in teaching," Garet and his colleagues state. "Unfortunately, this is not happening."

They acknowledge that cost is a major challenge to providing this type of high-quality professional development. "Funds should be focused on providing high-quality professional development experience. This would require schools and districts either to focus resources on fewer teachers, or to invest sufficient resources so that more teachers can benefit from high-quality professional development."

E-rate [Online]. Accessed 9/19/00:
http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/09-2000/000911.html.

See also: Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) [Online].

Field Notes for Professional Developers from Professional Developers [Online]. Accessed 4/5/02: http://www.ncrel.org/info/notes/wtr02/wtr2002.htm Quoting from this North Central Regional Educational Lab Website:

Field Notes offers practical knowledge - tips, tools, and resources - about topics of special interest to professional developers. This knowledge has been collected from people providing professional development to improve school performance.

Today, a variety of people provide professional development services to schools: teacher leaders, principals, and district, regional, and state education staff, to name just a few. Their roles, responsibilities, knowledge and experience are as varied as the providers themselves. This diversity has created new challenges for both aspiring and highly experienced developers. Field Notes will help you meet those challenges by further building your capacity to plan and implement powerful professional development.

Field Notes will be published three times a year. Each print issue will focus on one specific topic in a brief and easy to use format.

Fullan, Michael (April 2000). The Three Stories of Educational Reform [Online].Phi Delta Kappan. Accessed 11/30/01: http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kful0004.htm Quoting the first two paragraphs and then one later paragraph::

IT TAKES ABOUT three years to achieve successful change in student performance in an elementary school. Depending on size, it takes about six years to do so in a secondary school. While this is good news, there are two serious problems with this finding. First, these successes occur in only a small number of schools; that is, these reform efforts have not "gone to scale" and been widely reproduced. Second, and equally problematic, there is no guarantee that the initial success will last. Put in terms of the change process, there has been strong adoption and implementation, but not strong institutionalization.

The main reason for the failure of these reforms to go to scale and to endure is that we have failed to understand that both local school development and the quality of the surrounding infrastructure are critical for lasting success. I pursue this argument in terms of what I call "the three stories of reform."

…

Technology is ubiquitous; the issue is how to contend with it. In What's Worth Fighting For Out There? Hargreaves and I concluded that the more powerful technology becomes, the more indispensable good teachers are. Technology generates a glut of information, but it has no particular pedagogical wisdom -- especially regarding new breakthroughs in cognitive science about how learners must construct their own meaning for deep understanding to occur. This means that teachers must become experts in pedagogical design. It also means that teachers must use the power of technology, both in the classroom and in sharing with other teachers what they are learning.

Glennan, Thomas K. and Melmed, Arthur (1995). Fostering the Use of Educational Technology: Elements of a National Strategy [Online]. Accessed: http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR682/contents.html. Quoting from the Suimmary of this seminal article:

In 1983 there was about one computer for each 125 students in the nation's public schools. By 1995, there was a computer for each nine students. In 1994, the nation's schools spent about $3 billion on computer- and network-based technology. Additional funds were spent for other kinds of equipment such as video players, facsimile machines, and telephone lines as well as for technology-related training. Nationally, new federal legislation has emphasized the importance of educational technology and leaders have called for actions to ensure the access of all schools to the national information infrastructure. Many states and local school systems have appropriated or reallocated funds, or issued bonds to finance acquisition and installation of technology in schools. As has been the case in other parts of American society, major changes associated with the growth of information technology are clearly under way in our schools.

At the same time, much of America is in the midst of significant efforts to reform and improve the performance of its education system. The president and the governors, in a historic agreement, established broad national education goals in 1989. National political, business, and community leaders have called for higher standards and educational practices that enable virtually all students to meet these standards. Because of the significant growth in the importance of being competitive in the international economy, educational outcomes relating to the capacity to effectively work, continue to learn, and be effective citizens are receiving greater attention. States and communities, to varying degrees, are pursuing these goals.

IT in Education Throughout the World. Here are some links:

The World Factbook [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/. This contains some general information about almost every country in the world.

Computers in Schools in Developing Countries [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.ltnet.org/TextOnly/
T-English/V-Lib/E-VLibStartBase.htm.

International Conference on Technology in Education [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.icte.org/. Note: ICTE Educational Technology On-Line Resource Library and Education Technology World View links from the homepage.

Teachers Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/
guide/international/index.html

Grant Writing, Fund Raising, Etc. [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://otec.uoregon.edu/resources.htm.

This is the Grant Writing page of the Oregon Technology in Education Council (OTEC). It contains a substantial number of links to valuable resources.

Knowledge Loom [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://knowledgeloom.org/.Quoting from the Website:

The Knowledge Loom is a place for educators worldwide to do the following:

• Review research that identifies best practices related to various themes.
• View stories about the practices in real schools/districts.
• Learn to replicate the success of these practices in your own organization.
• Add your own stories, knowledge, questions to the collections.
• Participate in online events and discussions.
• Discover supporting organizations and resources.

McKinsey & Co. (1995). Connecting K-12 Schools to the Information Superhighway [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.uark.edu/mckinsey/.

This report provides extensive data on the infrastructure of IT in K-12 education in the United States in 1995. The report provides considerable detail on what costs were taken into consideration in the analysis. It estimates, for example, that 1.3% of school funding was going into instructional computing in that year. Quoting from the Website:

This report was developed by McKinsey & Company, Inc. for the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIIAC). Many individuals from educational organizations, industry, and federal, state and local governments lent their expertise to this effort. While their contributions have been invaluable, the report does not necessarily reflect the views of any one contributor, the NIIAC, or its members. Comments and questions concerning this work should be directed to Michael Nevens, McKinsey and Company, Inc., 630 Hansen Way, Palo Alto, California 94304; or to Margot Singer, McKinsey and Company, Inc., 55 East 52nd Street, New York, New York 10022.

Meyer Memorial Trust [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.mmt.org/.

This Foundation serves Oregon and Clark County, Washington. The Support for Teachers Initiative is at http://www.mmt.org/grantsprograms.html#anchor81470.

Moursund, D.G. (1987) Chesslandia: A Parable [Online].

My all time, favorite editorial from The Computing Teacher.

Moursund, D.G. (1989). Effective Inservice for Integrating Computer-As-Tool Into the Curriculum. Eugene, OR: ISTE. Chapter 3.2.

This is a "Golden Oldie" book written by David Moursund while supported by a National Science Foundation grant. While much of the materials are now out of date, Chapter 3.2 continues to be relevant.

Moursund, D., Bielefeldt, T., Ricketts, R., and Underwood, S. (1995). Effective Practice: Computer Technology in Education. Eugene, OR: ISTE. Chapter 4.

This book was written using funding from the Foundation for the Improvement of Education, a foundation established by the National Education Association. Funding for the project came from Bill Gates.

Moursund, D.G. (1997. 2002). Obtaining resources for technology in education: A how-to guide for writing proposals, forming partnerships, and raising funds [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/
GrantWriting/index.htm.

A number of chapters from this book are available online. The book is being revised and being made available free on the Web.

Moursund, D. and Bielefeldt, T. (1997). An effective inservice model.

Moursund, D.G. (Various dates). Stages of concern and levels of knowledge. Moursund has published variations of this scale in a number of places. It is closely related to Hall's Concerns Based Adoption Model work done in the early 1970s at the University of Texas.

National Center for Technology Planning [Online]. Accessed: http://www.nctp.com/. Quoting from the Website:

The National Center for Technology Planning (NCTP) is a clearinghouse for the exchange of many types of information related to technology planning. This information may be: school technology plans available for downloading via a computer network; technology planning aids (checklists, brochures, sample planning forms, PR announcement forms); and/or electronic monographs on timely, selected topics. The NCTP was created for those who: need help, seek fresh ideas, or seek solutions to problems encountered with planning.

Main goals of the NCTP are to: 1) collect; 2) disseminate; and 3) help. Collection occurs as school districts and other agencies around the world send their plans to NCTP to be added to the growing repository. Dissemination is accomplished by the NCTP's making many plans available electronically for downloading via the Internet, a worldwide computer network. Help is offered in the forms of consultancy, conducting workshops, and the distribution of printed matter (brochures, pamphlets, etc.) that deal with particular aspects of technology planning.

Important!--NCTP materials represent the school/education arena mostly; however, we serve many more types of organizations. Examples are: business/industry; military; government; and public service.

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) from ISTE [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://cnets.iste.org/.

Contans ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students, Teachers, and School Administrators.

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.ncate.org/.Quoting from the Website:

Teaching children--to recognize letters, to read for the first time, to understand how a tree grows--is one of the most important jobs in America. The nation's future depends, in large part, on how well it is done.

NCATE is the profession's mechanism to help establish high quality teacher preparation. Through the process of professional accreditation of schools, colleges and departments of education, NCATE works to make a difference in the quality of teaching and teacher preparation today, tomorrow, and for the next century. NCATE's performance-based system of accreditation fosters competent classroom teachers and other educators who work to improve the education of all P&endash;12 students. NCATE believes every student deserves a caring, competent, and highly qualified teacher.

NCATE is a coalition of 33 specialty professional associations of teachers, teacher educators, content specialists, and local and state policy makers. All are committed to quality teaching, and together, the coalition represents over 3 million individuals.

The U. S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize NCATE as a professional accrediting body for teacher preparation.

National Staff Development Council (NSDC) [Online]. Accessed 11/19/01: http://www.nsdc.org/. Quoting from the Website:

The National Staff Development Council (NSDC), founded in 1969, is the largest non-profit professional association committed to ensuring success for all students through staff development and school improvement. The Council's fundamental purpose is to address the issues confronted by all participants in the reform process. The Council views high quality staff development programs as essential to creating schools in which all students and staff members are learners who continually improve their performance. NSDC's publications and projects are presented in a time-saving, "how-to" format, offering a variety of effective, step-by-step models developed by practitioners who base their methods on research and real-world experiences.

At one time staff development was synonymous with "sit and get" sessions in which relatively passive participants were "made aware" of the latest ideas regarding teaching and learning from so-called "experts". Today, staff development not only includes high-quality training programs with intensive follow-up and support, but also other growth-promoting processes such as study groups, action research, and peer coaching, to name a few. NSDC, as an organization, believes that staff development is fundamentally people improvement.

NWREL (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory). Comprehensive school reform [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.nwrac.org/pub/schoolwide/winter00/article2.html.

A 200 page listing and analysis of school reform movements is given at http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/natspec/catalog/index.html. The Table of Contents and the contents of Appendix C are contained on the Digital Age Education II Website.

Oregon Department of Education [Online]. Accessed: http://www.ode.state.or.us/. Quoting from the Website:

The relentless pursuit of each student's success is the vision of the Oregon Department of Education. Oregon can truly put kids first by assuring that its schools follow the best practices in education and cutting-edge research.

Oregon Content Standards and Resources [Online]. Accessed: http://otn.uoregon.edu/eisenhower/index.html. Quoting from the Website:

To help students meet the challenge of Oregon's new academic content standards, a consortium funded by the Eisenhower Professional Development Fund for Higher Education, the Oregon Education Association, and the Oregon US West/NEA Teacher Network has prepared four [five] resource modules for use by in-service and pre-service teachers.

LEADERSHIP: Technology Leadership Cadre Models, reflections and presentations by experienced teachers about how technology can be used in core content areas to help students meet new standards.

TEACHING: Using the Internet to Improve Teaching & Learning A menu of Web-based lessons comprised of readings, examples, resources and optional assignments about how to use technology to improve student performance in core content areas.

SKILLS: Search Skills for Educators Web-based curricula designed to help teachers locate and evaluate information available on the World Wide Web.

PORTFOLIOS: Technology-Supported Portfolios Templates for using technology to organize portfolios that contain evidence of student learning and/or successful teaching. The templates are available in print, software and web-based formats.

PROFESSIONAL CENTER: References and Resources Useful links for K-12 educators.

Oregon Technology in Education Council (OTEC) [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://otec.uoregon.edu/. Quoting from the Website:

The Oregon Technology in Education Council (OTEC) is a grassroots organization dedicated to improving Oregon's formal and informal education at all levels through the appropriate use of Information Technology (IT).

PT3 (2000). University of Oregon College of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology Implementation Proposal. Submitted March 2000.

This proposal written by Davd Moursund received three years of funding at approximately $400,000 per year.

Quiñones, Sherri and Kirshstein, Rita (December 1998). An Educator's Guide to Evaluating the Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms. Washington, DC: US Department of Education [Online]. Available 3/30/02: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdTechGuide/preface.html. Quoting from the Website:

This guide was developed for the U.S. Department of Education by the American Institutes for Research in conjunction with its formative evaluation of the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund. The guide represents a joint effort among the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, the Office of Educational Technology, and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. The guide should be viewed as a tool for individuals who have little or no formal training in research or evaluation. Its intended informal style and accompanying worksheets provide the basic principles of evaluation and are designed to help district and school personnel gain an overview of and ideas for evaluating local technology initiatives. The guide is not meant to be the key to conducting a perfect evaluation. There is no such thing as a perfect program and no such thing as a perfect evaluation. Rather, the goal of this handbook is to provide educators a resource with which to jump into the evaluation process, learning as they go.

Revising the 1996 National Educational Technology Plan [Online] . Washington, DC: US Department of Education. Accessed 5/5/00: http://www.air.org/forum/.

Rudner, Lawrence M. (11/98). An On-line, Interactive, Computer Adaptive Testing Mini-Tutorial [Online]. Accessed 10/15/00: http://ericae.net/scripts/cat. Quoting from the Website

Welcome to our online computer adaptive testing (CAT) mini-tutorial. Here you will have the opportunity to learn the logic of CAT and see the calculations that go on behind the scenes. You can play with an actual CAT. We provide the items and the correct answers. You can try different scenarios and see what happens. You can pretend you are a high ability, average or low ability examinee. You can intentionally miss easy items. You can get items right that should be very hard for you.

Rudner, Lawrence M. (1998??). The Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998 [Online]. Accessed 10/15/00: http://www.hslda.org/nationalcenter/statsandreports/
rudner1999/Rudner0.asp. Quoting from the Website

An independent study by Lawrence M. Rudner, Ph.D., Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation Made possible by a grant from Home School Legal Defense Association.

Sack, Joetta L. (January 30,2002). Experts Debate Effect Of Whole-School Reform [Online]. Education week. Accessed 2/9/02: http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.
cfm?slug=20whole.h21.

This Webpage also contains links to other related articles from Education Week. Quoting from the Website:

The federal government has poured millions of dollars into its whole-school- reform program, and hundreds of schools have overhauled their academic programs in the hope that such prescriptions will improve academic results. But are those models meeting the high expectations of lawmakers and educators?

That depends on who's doing the evaluating and which whole-school experiments they're looking at, according to a panel brought here last week by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. While some schools have shown great success, and the concept carries much potential, many pitfalls remain in packaging and mass-producing systems for school improvement, panelists said.

Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) [Online]. Accessed 11/26/01: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sempage.html. Quoting from the Executive Summary:

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) is a detailed blueprint for total school improvement that allows each school the flexibility to allow each school to develop its own unique programs based on local resources, student demographics, and school dynamics as well as faculty strengths and creativity. Although this research-based model is based on highly successful practices that originated in special programs for the gifted and talented students, its major goal is to promote both challenging and enjoyable high-end learning across a wide range of school types, levels and demographic differences. The idea is to create a repertoire of services that can be integrated in such a way to create "a rising tide lifts all ships" approach. This approach allows schools to develop a collaborative school culture that takes advantage of resources and appropriate decision-making opportunities to create meaningful, high-level and potentially creative opportunities for students to develop their talents. SEM suggests that educators should examine ways to make schools more inviting, friendly, and enjoyable places that encourage the full development of the learner instead of seeing students as a repository for information that will be assessed with the next round of standardized tests. Not only has this model been successful in addressing the problem of students who have been under-challenged but it also provides additional important learning paths for students who find success in more traditional learning environments.

Sun, J., Heath, M., Byrom, E., Phlegar, J., and Dimock, K.V. Planning into practice: Resources for planning, implementing, and integrating instructional technology [Online]. Accessed 4/4/01: http://www.seirtec.org/P2P.html.

This is a 270 page book based on work done during a five year federally funded project. Quoting from the Website:

As a result of SEIR*TEC's work at various school sites during the first project period, we found several valuable tools that are particularly useful in helping districts and schools create strategic educational technology plans. We have included those tools along with some firsthand examples and stories from schools that have used them.

TERC Grant Writing Guide [Online]. Accessed 4/20/01: http://ra.terc.edu/alliance/TEMPLATE/
alliance_resources/pubs/TERCpubs/TERCGrantManual/
TOC.html. Quoting from the Introduction:

This manual was assembled to provide high school science teachers with guidelines for submitting proposals for science education enhancement to foundations, government agencies, and local philanthropies. Writing a grant proposal can be a lengthy process. It may take several months to develop an idea: contact the funders, write the proposal, and receive a reply. Sometimes, the first proposal does not get funded, but be persistent and you will be rewarded (proposal development can also provide you with a learning opportunity to explore the Internet and converse with people from all over the country online). This manual is divided into 4 chapters and some appendices. Chapter 1 deals with identifying your goal; Chapter 2 pertains to researching and establishing a relationship with a prospective funder; Chapter 3 outlines the actual writing of the grant; Chapter 4 explains possible review procedures of the proposal by the funder and the actions to take once it is funded. Appendix A contains a sample contact letter to the funders and Appendix B shows a sample interactions form to be used for keeping record of contacts. Appendix C lists newsletters and other resources available for further research into funding prospects. Since America Online can be a wonderful way of accessing data, reaching out to other teachers, sharing interests, and finding academic sources, Appendix D gives instructions for using several Internet software packages such as Gopher. Gopher is an excellent way to do some research online, as it gives accesses to libraries catalogs, databases, grants information, and articles. Appendix E lists names and tips from various AOL subscribers who have replied to our posting in AOL for assisting with writing grants. Appendix F shows a sample grant application form. Appendix G provides a database of foundations and corporations actively involved in funding. The first page of Appendix G is a complete list of all the foundations and their categories and relevance. This appendix is alphabetized by foundation name, and contains information on contact officer, address and phone number, interests, requirements, priorities, fund range, and deadlines. The foundations are grouped by likely relevance: moderate and high. Programs related to general education and science are grouped under "Moderate" and those specifically relevant to Texas, New York, and Massachusetts, and ITDE work are marked as "High." Also, foundations are categorized by the areas they fund: curriculum development, education, technology/equipment, professional development, and general science. Although it is certainly not exhaustive--there are many other potential sources of funding--Appendix G gives initial information on some of many possible agencies. A more complete source is Foundation Directory (see Appendix C for more information). The process of developing a project, writing a proposal, and getting funding to carry it out can be a very rewarding experience. We hope that this manual will provide you with suggestions for professional development and enhancements. Good luck!

Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) [Online]. Accessed 3/30/02: http://www.universalservice.org/.

This is a US Government-created non-profit corporation that deals with E-Rate. Quoting from the Website:

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) is a private, not for profit corporation that is responsible for providing every state and territory in the United States with access to affordable telecommunications services through the Universal Service Fund. All of the country's communities - including remote communities - such as rural areas, low-income neighborhoods, rural health care providers, public and private schools and public libraries, are eligible to seek support from the Universal Service Fund.

USAC administers four programs: the High Cost Program, the Low Income Program, the Rural Health Care Program, and the Schools and Libraries Program. Each of these programs provides affordable access to modern telecommunications services for consumers, rural health care facilities, schools and libraries regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic status. The High Cost and Low Income Programs are managed by the High Cost and Low Income Division (HCLID); The Rural Health Care Program is managed by the Rural Health Care Division (RHCD); and the Schools and Libraries Program is managed by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD).

U.S. Charter Schools [Online]. Accessed 5/22/00: http://www.uscharterschools.org. Quoting from the Website:

Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The "charter" establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school's contract. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor--usually a state or local school board--to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability. They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them.

For the legal definition of a charter school in a particular state, consult that state's charter school law through our State and School Information area. We also provide a sampling of other charter school Definitions. To find research on charter schools, visit our Resource Directory.

US Department of Education Planning and Evaluation Service Knowledge. Resources. Results [Online]. Accessed: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/PES/index.html

The various US Federal Government educational programs are placing increasing emphasis on research and on implementing research-based educational improvements.

Web Searching.

The following brief news item suggests that most of what is on the Web is not indexed, and therefore cannot be located by an individual making use of a search engine. On 3/29/01, Google indicated that their search engine was searching 1,346,966,000 Web pages. (By 3/30/02 this number had increased to 2,073,418,204 Web pages.) Thus, Google is accessing lwell under 1% of the total number of Web pages that the article estimates actually exist. Search Engines Fail To Keep Up With Growing Web

Experts say search engines are having a difficult time keeping up with the amount of content on the Internet as well as the rapidly changing technology used to make that content available. There may be as many as 550 billion Web pages, experts estimate, but the most comprehensive search engines can process only a fraction of them. While it is still relatively easy to find content on a popular subject, experts say the vast catalog of business, scientific, and legal content falls under the radar of search engines. Experts call this buried content the "deep" or "invisible" Web. The problem is not simply that search engines cannot keep up with the amount of content added to the Web each day. Many sites actively work to keep search-engine software from accessing some or all of their content in order to protect their proprietary interests. Experts add that the growing amount of multimedia content available online is also problematic for search engines, which are largely geared toward text. (Reuters, 26 March 2001) (Edupage, March 28, 2001)

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