Resources
Links
LA-MV League of Women Voters
Los Altos Community Foundation
Stanford University School
of Education
Aspire Public schools
Hoover Institution
School Data Websites
Education Data Partnership
(Ed-Data)
Ed-Data is a joint venture of the California Department of Education
(CDE), EdSource, and the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance
Team (FCMAT) with technical development provided by the Alameda
County Office of Education. This site provides an interactive
database with financial, demographic, and performance information
for each California school, school district, and county as well
as the state. Also available are statewide and national comparisons
and short reports on public education topics.
Great Schools
Great Schools is a nonprofit organization that provides school
profiles for all K–12 public schools in Arizona and California.
Geared toward parents and educators, Great Schools also provides
tools to help visitors search for and compare schools, and content
designed to help people understand and improve schools.
Parent, Community, and Business Involvement
California Consortium of Education
Foundations (CCEF)
CCEF provides training and support services to education foundations
throughout California, including guidelines for starting a local
foundation at your school or district. Starting an Education Foundation,
a booklet, provides practical advice about starting a foundation
to support local schools.
California
Department of Education (CDE): Youth Education Partnerships Office
The CDE collects and distributes data and information on California
public schools, acts as an advisor to school districts and county
offices of education, and monitors state and federal education
programs. The Youth Education Partnerships Office is a clearinghouse
for a wide variety of parent involvement resources.
California Parent Center
The California Parent Center is funded by the U.S. Department
of Education and administered by the San Diego State University
Foundation's June Burnett Institute. This statewide program promotes
parent involvement in education to enhance student success and
academic achievement, with a focus on Title I schools. The Parent
Center's parent assistance warm line is offered in seven languages.
California State Parent Teacher
Association (CSPTA)
The California State PTA is the oldest and largest statewide nonprofit
volunteer organization dedicated to working on behalf of children
and the issues that affect them. Membership is open to anyone
who is concerned with the education, health and welfare of children.
National Coalition for Parent
Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
NCPIE works to increase effective family/school partnerships in
schools throughout America.
Public Education Network
(PEN)
The Public Education Network is the nation’s largest network
of independent, community-based school reform organizations. PEN
provides valuable information, technical assistance, and member
services to build the capacity of Local Education Funds (LEFs)
and other community-based organizations in engaging citizens in
strategic public school reform. The site contains information
and links on a variety of education issues.
Special Interest and Student Support
California Association
for Bilingual Education (CABE)
CABE’s mission is to promote and support bilingual education
and quality educational experiences for all students in California.
Their focus is on promoting equity for students with diverse cultural,
racial, and linguistic backgrounds.
California Association for
the Gifted (CAG)
CAG is an advocacy organization for California’s GATE (Gifted
and Talented Education) population. Its members consist of parents,
educators, and community representatives.
California Services for Technical
Assistance and Training (CalSTAT)
CalSTAT is a special project of the California Department of Education
(CDE), Division of Special Education. CalSTAT's overarching goal
is to support collaboration between general education and special
education. It does so through information dissemination, technical
assistance, regionally coordinated training programs, and more.
Center for Youth Citizenship
(CYC)
CYC is a nonprofit organization committed to preparing young people
for responsible and productive citizenship. CYC programs teach
attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed for decision-making and
participation in a diverse and changing world. The Center offers
standards-based materials for classroom instruction in grades
K-12, trains educators in implementing civic and law-related lessons,
and promotes cooperative partnerships between business, education
and government.
Even Start Family
Literacy Program
Supported partially through federal funds, local educational agencies
(LEAs) and community-based organizations plan and coordinate services
to help parents gain the skills needed to become full partners
in the education of their young children. Even Start integrates
early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education,
and parenting education into a unified family literacy program.
916/319-0275
SchoolGrants
SchoolGrants was created to assist the K-12 education community
(educators and parents) nationwide in locating and applying for
grants to fund school projects. There is an interactive component
to this website, where users may share successful proposals and
other tips and information with others.
Urban Education Partnership
(UEP)
Formerly the Los Angeles Educational Partnership (LAEP), the Urban
Education Partnership (UEP) is an independent, nonprofit organization
that helps students in high-need schools improve their academic
achievement. They do so by partnering with educators, parents
and the community. UEP works with districts and schools in California,
Georgia, Utah, and Oregon.
Great Sources of Information
American School Board Journal
The mission of American School Board Journal is to meet the informational
needs of school board members, professional educators, and the
educational policy community by chronicling change, interpreting
issues, and providing practical advice on a broad range of topics
pertinent to school governance and management, policy making,
student achievement, and the art of school leadership.
Bay Area School Reform Collaborative
BASRC seeks to transform schools across the Bay Area into vital
places to learn and to teach. BASRC works with education leaders
in both schools and districts to develop, assess and use the knowledge
needed for schools to engage in a systematic and sustainable improvement
process.
Center for Education Reform
(CER)
CER is a national, nonprofit advocacy organization founded to
provide support and guidance to parents, teachers, community and
civic groups, policymakers, grassroots leaders, and any others
who are working to bring fundamental reforms to their schools.
EdSource
EdSource was originally established as the California Coalition
for Fair School Finance in 1977 by three well-known and respected
community service organizations: the California Parent Teacher
Association, the League of Women Voters of California, and the
American Association of University Women, California chapter.
Their goal was to establish a neutral, balanced, reliable source
of information to explain California’s controversial Serrano
v. Priest court decision mandating equity of funding among all
the state’s school districts. Since that time, EdSource
has broadened the public education policy topics it researches
and has widened its audiences to include policymakers, researchers,
K-12 and college educators, the media, parents, and the general
public. As an independent, impartial, not-for-profit organization,
their sole mission is to clarify complex education issues and
to promote thoughtful decisions about public school improvement.
Education Commission of the States
(ECS): Publications
ECS has three 1997 publications dedicated to school/community
communications:
- Building Community Support for Schools: A Practical Guide
to Strategic Communications Designed for school, district, and
state communications professionals, this guide gives the "big
picture" of how to develop, carry out, and evaluate a strategic
communication plan tied to education improvement efforts.
- Do-It-Yourself Focus Groups: A Low-Cost Way to Listen to
Your Community This step-by-step guide gives educators a systematic
way to listen to what is important to people in the school community;
what changes they want to see in their schools; and how they
want to participate in making decisions about those changes.
- Let’s Talk About School Improvement This guide helps
educators, policymakers, and community members host two-way
conversations about what the public wants for education and
how public schools can do a better job of educating students.
Education Week
Publishes Education Week, the monthly Teacher Magazine, and Education
Week on the Web. Primary mission is to help raise the level of
awareness and understanding among professionals and the public
of important issues in American education.
EdVoice
EdVoice is a non-partisan, non-profit political advocacy group
that helps pass laws that improve public schools for all California
children. EdVoice encourages individuals at the local level who
care about improving schools to join their efforts through their
E-Mail Advocacy Network.
Educational Leadership
Educational Leadership, a magazine for educators by educators,
is ASCD's flagship publication. With a circulation of 175,000,
Educational Leadership is acknowledged throughout the world as
an authoritative source of information about teaching and learning,
new ideas and practices relevant to practicing educators, and
the latest trends and issues affecting prekindergarten through
higher education.
The Education Trust
The Ed Trust has grown into an independent nonprofit organization
whose mission is to make schools and colleges work for all of
the young people they serve.
Phi Delta
Kappan
Phi Delta Kappan, the professional print journal for education,
addresses policy issues for educators at all levels. Advocating
research-based school reform, the Kappan provides a forum for
debate on controversial subjects. Published since 1915, the journal
appears monthly September through June.
Thomas B Fordham Foundation
Publishes a weekly report called the Education Gadfly
The Foundation's work in education seeks to advance understanding
and acceptance of effective reform strategies that incorporate
these principles:
- the need for dramatically higher standards;
- an education system designed for and responsive to
the needs of its users;
- verifiable outcomes and accountability;
- equality of opportunity;
- a solid core curriculum taught by knowledgeable, expert
instructors;
- educational diversity, competition, and choice.
US Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education’s mission is to:
- Strengthen the Federal commitment to assuring access to equal
educational opportunity for every individual;
- Supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local
school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the
private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research
institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students
to improve the quality of education;
- Encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents,
and students in Federal education programs;
- Promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education
through Federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing
of information;
- Improve the coordination of Federal education programs;
- Improve the management of Federal education activities; and
- Increase the accountability of Federal education programs
to the President, the Congress, and the public.
WestEd
A nonprofit research, development, and service agency, WestEd
strives to enhance and increase education and human development
within schools, families, and communities. Among our specialties
are education assessment and accountability; early childhood and
youth development; program evaluation; community building; and
policy analysis.
Publications/Articles
Choosing Excellence: "Good
Enough" Schools Are Not Good Enough
In this book, author John Merrow (host of the PBS documentary
series on youth and learning, The Merrow Report) delves into the
problem of school evaluation. Each chapter explores some aspect
of schooling such as safety, academics, values, and technology.
Education: How Can Schools and Communities Work Together to Meet
the Challenge?
A discussion guide for schools and communities to use as they
address questions about the purposes public schools serve and
how to meet them. (1995)
Study Circles Resource Center
P.O. Box 203
Pomfret, T 06258
860/928-2616
Fax: 860/928-3713
Is There a Public for Public Schools?
Drawing from a decade of research by the Kettering Foundation,
this book by David Mathews documents the deterioration of the
relationship between the public and public education, and the
essential value of that relationship to school quality. Kettering
Foundation Press (1996).
U.S. Department of Education:
Publications for Parents
Provides a variety of resources for parents, including the Partnership
for Family Involvement in Education publications.
Contact Your Legislators!
Federal:
The federal government plays a limited role in public schools.
The largest federal programs are Special Education, Immigrant
education, Title I, and Child Nutrition.
U.S. Congress:
For a directory of members and committee assignments, go to www.house.gov
and www.senate.gov
California:
Many critical decisions about school funding and allocation
are made at the state level in California. In recent years, state
leaders have also been active in many other areas of education
policy.
California Legislature
Do you know who represents you in Sacramento? For a directory
of members and committee assignments, go to www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset7text.htm
or www.senate.ca.gov/~newsen/senators/senators.htp.
Or visit the official websites for the senate and assembly at:
www.senate.ca.gov or www.assembly.ca.gov
California Department of Education
For California Department of Education and State Board of Education
information, go to www.cde.ca.gov.
The State Board of Education roster is located at http://www.cde.ca.gov/board/bio.htm
California Governor
To contact Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger go to www.governor.ca.gov
Local:
Mountain View-Los Altos Union
High School District (650) 940-4650
1299 Bryant Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94040
Mr. Rich Fischer, Superintendent
Trustees:
Dr. Phil Faillace
Mrs. Judy Hanneman
Mrs. Julia Rosenberg
Mrs. Susan Sweeley
Mr. David Williams
Los Altos
School District
201 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA 94024 (650) 947-1150
Tim Justus, Superintendent
Trustees:
Mr. Victor M. Reid, III
Mr. Jay Thomas
Mrs. Margot Harrigan
Mr. Duane Roberts
Mr. Bill Cooper
Mountain View-Whisman School
District
750-A San Pierre Way, Mountain View, Ca 94043 (650) 526-3500
Dr. Maurice Ghysels,
Superintendant
Trustees:
trustees@mvwsd.k12.ca.us
Gloria Higgins
Frances R. Kruss
RoseMary Sias Roquero
Fiona Walter
Ellen Wheeler, President
