A-Z List of Free SEDL Publications

Below is a list of SEDL publications available free online. There are additional publications available in the SEDL Store, where SEDL lists the publications available for sale.

There are 281 free resources available to you.

Click here to show publications starting with the letter or number:
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A Best-Fit Approach to Effective Teacher Policy: (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 17) (2004)
In this issue of Insights, SEDL invited Jennifer King Rice, Ph.D. to share her best-fit decision making approach to improving teacher resources. This issue describes her model and provides guidance on its use.

A Description of SEDL's Intensive Sites: Working Systemically to Create High-Performing Learning Communities (2002)
This paper provides a report of the field sites identified by SEDL for its school improvement work across the five-state region of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas during 2000-2005. SEDL developed a scope of work with these sites that responded to the U.S. Department of Education's request for proposals to "transform low-performing schools into high-performing learning communities." The first section of the paper is a brief commentary about the preparation that SEDL undertook for identifying the districts within the five states, and the criteria for the selection of sites. A second section gives a brief account of the experiences of SEDL in recruiting the sites and its entry and planned work in the sites. The third section identifies and describes the sites in which SEDL is working, and the status of the work at each of the sites at the end of FY01; this section is the major focus of this report.

A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement (2002)
This review of the research examines the growing evidence that family and community connections with schools make a difference in student success.

Price: $26

Afterschool Curriculum Choice: Literacy Resources (2007)
The Consumers Guide to Afterschool Literacy Resources was created to provide information about sources of high-quality, hands-on literacy content for afterschool programs.

Afterschool Curriculum Choice: Mathematics Resources (2007)
The Consumers Guide to Afterschool Literacy Resources was created to provide information about sources of high-quality, hands-on literacy content for afterschool programs.

Afterschool Curriculum Choice: Technology Resources (2008)
The Consumers Guide to Afterschool Technology Resources was created to provide information about sources of high-quality, hands-on technology content for afterschool programs.

Afterschool Lesson Plan Database (2008)
The Afterschool Lesson Plan Database is populated by the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning and by afterschool practitioners. We invite you to submit your favorite activities/lesson plans for consideration for inclusion.

Afterschool Training Toolkit: Building Quality Enrichment Activities (2008)
This toolkit is designed to give afterschool program directors and instructors the resources they need to build fun, innovative, and academically enriching activities that not only engage students, but extend their knowledge in new ways and increase academic achievement.

AfterWords (2008)
AfterWords is the monthly e-newsletter of the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning. The newsletter shares up-to-date research on high-quality afterschool practices and explains how instructors and site coordinators can implement the practices in their own programs.

Alignment in SEDL's Working Systemically Model (2004)
In December, 2000, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) a 5-year research and development (R&D) contract to develop and refine a systemic model to improve student achievement in reading or mathematics in low-performing districts and schools. The Working Systemically model is based on the premise that student achievement will improve as districts and schools build their capacity to work systemically. This report describes 2003-2004 school year activities taken to implement the model in a sample of sites in the southwest region; reports on the districts' and schools' progress to align their curriculum, instruction, and assessment with state standards (one critical aspect of working systemically); and presents preliminary student achievement data for the sites.

Alternative Learning Environments: (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 6) (1995)
This report spells out sensible goals for alternative schooling and the traits found in successful alternative education programs.

Annotated Bibliography of Resources: for educational reform, coherent teaching practice, and improved student learning (1999)
This database of reference materials provides resources for professionals to utilize in developing an understanding of issues related to educational reform, coherent teaching practice, and improved student learning.

¿Qué pasa en la escuela de mi hijo?: Una guía para el padre de familia sobre las buenas escuelas (2000)
Este libretto es para padres de familia que desean comprender el cómo y el por qué las escuelas están cambiando sus metodologías de enseñanza. Lo llevará adentro de salones de clases que están utilizando metodologías inovativas en el aprendizaje – con resultados impresionantes.

Arkansas Mathematics and Science Education Sources: Arkansas Landscape Paper (2002)
This paper contains material to track down sources of help, information, and resources in science and mathematics education in Arkansas.

Assessing a School Staff as a Community of Professional Learners: Issues About Change, Volume 7, Number 1 (1999)
This paper discusses how to use an instrument to assess how well a school staff functions as a team and works collegially so that students might become more successful learners.

Assessment: Classroom Compass - Volume 2 Number 2 (1996)
This newsletter for teachers features Assessment: A Window to Learning, an examination of assessment as an integral part of the learning cycle.

Benefits²: Connecting Rural School Improvement and Community Development (2000)
This paper discusses ways in which rural communities and schools can work together to guarantee their students receive the best education possible.

Benefits²: Service Learning: A Strategy for rural school improvement and community revitalization (2000)
This paper is dedicated to discussing ways in which rural communities and schools can work together to guarantee their students receive the best education possible.

Benefits²: Rural Student Entrepreneurs: Linking Commerce and Community (2000)
This paper is dedicated to discussing ways in which rural communities and schools can work together to guarantee their students receive the best education possible.

Benefits²: Adapting to Community-Based Learning (2000)
This paper focuses in greater depth on the kinds of changes and commitments needed from school systems if service learning and entrepreneurial education projects are to succeed.

Benefits²: Collaborative strategies for revitalizing rural schools and communities (2000)
This issue of the Benefits series of papers focuses on strategies for using a formal school-community collaborative to help plan and implement successful projects.

Benefits²: Making the collaborative process work (2000)
This issue, the last in the Benefits series of papers, continues our focus on approaches and tools that can help to guide collaborative groups.

Board's Role in Educational Improvement, The: Issues About Change, Volume 3, Number 4 (1994)
This paper summarizes research on school boards' leadership for school change and improvement and relates the findings to Arkansas and Texas boards.

Building Home, School, and Community Partnerships (1995)
These three handbooks identify a successful process and key issues in the development of home, school, and community partnerships, and provide lessons learned from five demonstration sites.

Price: $5

Building Reading Proficiency at the Secondary Level: A Guide to Resources (2000)
This publication reviews the scholarly literature to determine: (a) current theoretical perspectives and research findings on building reading proficiency at the secondary level and (b) their implications for classroom instruction

Price: $15

Building Support for Better Schools: Seven Steps to Engaging Hard-to-Reach Communities (2000)
This practical guide is designed for educators, civic leaders, community organizers or anyone else interested in involving traditionally hard-to-reach communities.

Price: $4

Calling the Roll: A Resource Guide to Education-Related Data in Arkansas (1998)
This resource guide was produced by SEDL to accompany study circles in Arkansas.

Calling the Roll: A Resource Guide to Education-Related Data in Oklahoma (1998)
This resource guide was produced by SEDL to accompany study circles in Oklahoma.

Calling the Roll: Study Circles for Better Schools (Policy Research Report) (2000)
This report discusses the efficiency of study circles in increasing interaction between the public and state decision makers.

Case Studies of Rural Schools Implementing Comprehensive School Reform Models (2004)
Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego, CA on April 14, 2004.

Small, rural schools will likely continue to educate significant portions of students in the U.S. while facing the challenges of limited resources, isolation, declining enrollments, aging facilities, limited curricula, and diminishing political influence. These challenges prompted the question of whether small, rural schools could benefit from CSR grants.

The study addressed two major objectives:

Given the relative isolation and limited access to resources, will small, rural schools be able to utilize additional funds to adopt and implement a comprehensive school improvement effort?
If these small, rural schools are able to garner the additional resources and implement a comprehensive school reform model, will such efforts positively impact student learning?

School improvement is a process that depends on the cooperation and involvement of many individuals and groups to make it work. This seems to be particularly true of small schools located in the fish bowl environment of small rural towns. Although these schools are isolated from the social and political mainstream, their small size places their inhabitants under close scrutiny and direct observation. In addition, small towns and their schools can become comfortable with the status quo and conservative in their willingness to explore new educational innovations. Case study methodology was chosen in order to closely examine and observe these dynamics and their influence on an externally driven and funded school improvement process.

For more information on Comprehensive School Reform (CSR), please visit:

Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) Publications: The CBAM publications are available for sale in the SEDL store. Click here to access a list of CBAM publications.

Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement (CSRI) Web Site (2008)
The Center's mission is to assist schools and districts engaged in comprehensive school reform and improvement by providing reliable information about research-based strategies and assistance. The Center provide support for the Comprehensive School Reform Program, and the Web site currently houses a variety of tools, guides, a literature database, and links relating to school improvement.

Changing Mental Frameworks: One High School's Success through a Triad Partnership: Issues About Change, Volume 3, Number 2 (1994)
This paper details how staff, students, and parents changed the culture of a Texas high school, raised expectations, and improved working relationships and student performance.

Charter Schools: Early Learnings (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 5) (1995)
This concise policy brief examines six challenges developers encounter when planning and implementing charter schools and offers direction for those crafting legislation and developing school charters.

Closing the Texas Achievement Gap (2005)
This Web portal was created to address the need for information relevant to the disparity in mathematics and science achievement among different student populations. It is intended for educators at all levels, as well as policymakers, researchers, parents, and members of the business community. Developers of this site seek to encourage active involvement of these many stakeholders in solving this persistent problem. In support of this, the site provides definitions and descriptive data, discusses the roles of various groups, and highlights successful approaches to ensuring a quality mathematics and science education for all students.

Co-Developers: Partners in a Study of Professional Learning Communities: Issues About Change, Volume 8, Number 2 (2000)
This publication reports one aspect of a national study focusing on the concept and development of Co-Developers in the Creating Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement (CCCII) project at Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL).

Cognitive Foundations of Learning to Read: A Framework (2000)
This book provides a concise and very understandable summary of the research findings related to how children learn to read.

Price: $15

Collaborative Action Team Process: Bringing home, school, community, and students together to improve results for children and families: Final Research Report (2000)
This publication is the final report from the Collaborative Action Team (CAT) project and includes information about participants, characteristics and implementation of the CAT process, research design and methodology, site characteristics, sustainability, student outcomes, results in CAT sites, and implications and recommendations.

Comprehensive School Improvement: Addressing the Challenges: Issues About Change, Volume 9, Number 1 (2000)
This publication, coupled with current nationwide interest in encouraging schools to adopt comprehensive reform strategies or programs, urgently communicates the need for school improvement.

Confronting and Managing Culture in a Changing Environment: Issues About Change, Volume 5, Number 4 (1995)
This paper explains how a visionary superintendent restructured a junior high school into a middle school in a largely Hispanic New Mexico small town.

Connecting Student Learning and Technology (1999)
This guide provides teachers with suggestions for using computers as instructional tools and discusses using technology in environments that support learning.

Connection Collection (2002)
This searchable, online database includes annotations for over 140 articles, monographs, and other literature related to school, family, and community involvement in education.

Constructing Knowledge with Technology: A Review of the Literature (1999)
This publication is for research and development professionals and others who are interested in learning more about constructivism, a theory of learning and technology.

Price: $9.00

Constructivism: Classroom Compass - Volume 1 Number 3 (1995)
This newsletter for teachers explores constructivism and the constructivist theory of learning, including a brief literature summary and suggestions for the constructivist classroom.

Consumers Guide to Afterschool Science Resources (2008)
The Consumers Guide to Afterschool Science Resources was created to provide information about sources of high-quality, hands-on science content for afterschool programs. After identifying nominations that seemed most promising, we engaged a panel of afterschool and science content experts to review the resources and provide the commentary presented in the guide.

Continuity in Early Childhood: A Framework for Home, School, and Community Linkages (1995)
This document focuses on what a community can do to support families with young children.

Cooperative Learning: Classroom Compass - Volume 1 Number 2 (1994)
This newsletter for teachers discusses models and resources for getting students to work together in cooperative learning.

Corrective Action in Low-Performing Schools and School Districts (2001)
This publication summarizes formal state plans to improve low-performing schools.

Correlates of Successful Implementation and School Change: An Annotated Bibliography (2000)
This bibliography contains valuable references pertaining to the topics of change and implementation in schools, as used in the development of a survey instrument by SEDL's "Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration" project.

Price: $9

Creating a Context for Change: Issues About Change, Volume 2, Number 2 (1992)
This publication describes 17 indicators of a school context that supports change and provides advice from educators who have successfully implemented improvements.

Creating a Professional Learning Community: Cottonwood Creek School: Issues About Change, Volume 6, Number 2 (1998)
This paper discusses strategies and approaches hereby school staffs might develop into collegial organizations, illustrated by the real-life example of Cottonwood Creek high School.

Creating Collaborative Action Teams: Working Together for Student Success (2000)
This multi-media kit is a set of concepts, activities, and resources that individuals, school districts and other organizations can use to develop a partnership between home, school, community, and students at the local level.

Creating New Governance Structures (1994)
This publication discusses the trend toward increasing local participation in designing and implementing new structures for education, health, and human services delivery and provides examples taken from California, Colorado, and Kentucky.

CSR Awards Database: Schools Awarded CSR Funds to Implement Comprehensive School Reform Models
This nationwide database lists information about schools that have been awarded CSR funds to implement research-based comprehensive reform models.

CSRD Connections: Whatever it Takes: The Challenge of Comprehensive Reform (2000)
This newsletter will bring you articles and discussions about implementation of school reform programs that will help support you through your first year of reform efforts and beyond.

CSRD Connections: Strategies for Change: Implementing a Comprehensive School Reform Program (2000)
This newsletter bring you articles and discussions about implementation of school reform programs that will help support you through your first year of reform efforts and beyond.

CSRD Connections: Taking the Lead: The Role of the Principal in School Reform (2000)
This publication brings you articles and discussions about implementation of school reform programs that will help support you through your first year of reform efforts and beyond.

Deliberating About Education: A New Policy Tool? (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 10) (1999)
This brief examines the potential of deliberative dialogue as a tool for connecting state policymakers and the public.

Design in the Classroom: Classroom Compass - Volume 2 Number 3 (1996)
This newsletter for teachers features Design in the Classroom, a look at technology as the concrete application of science and mathematics.

Developing a Collaborative Team Approach to Support Family and Community Connections With Schools: What Can School Leaders Do? (2005)
This strategy brief includes ideas for involving families actively in the decision-making and implementation efforts needed for school improvement.

Developing Curriculum Across The Disciplines: Classroom Compass - Volume 4 Number 1 (1998)
This newsletter explores one way teachers might work together to develop curriculum in science and mathematics.

Differentiated Instruction in the Foreign Language Classroom: Meeting the Diverse Needs of All Learners: LOTE CED Communiqué - Issue 6 (2002)

Directory of Dual Language Programs in Texas (1996)
This directory for school personnel provides information on how to expand/improve their dual-language programs, start a program, or refine and existing program.

Directory of Journals and Author Guidelines in the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Field (2008)
The NCDDR has developed an online Directory of Journals and Author Guidelines in the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Field. The directory includes over 200 journal descriptions and author guidelines.

Dissemination Self-Inventory (2002)
The self-inventory is a planning tool designed to help those involved in research and development projects do a better job of bridging the gap between the creation of disability research outcomes and their use. The self-inventory asks a series of questions about your organization and your project plans. By answering the questions and using a simple rating scale, you can assess the effectiveness of your intended dissemination strategies, identify strengths and weaknesses, and revise your plans as needed. Following the questions, a scoring guide is provided with resources to help with dissemination planning.

Diversity: School, Family, and Community Connections (2003)
SEDL's third research synthesis in a series on family and community connections with schools focuses on race or ethnicity, culture (including language), and socioeconomic status.

Price: $20

Early Language Learning Programs: Reaping the Benefits, Facing the Challenges: LOTE CED Communiqué - Issue 4 (2001)
This newsletter describes the types of early language learning programs that currently exist, and provides a rationale for implementing a language immersion model.

Easing the Transition from PreK to Kindergarten: What Schools and Families Can Do to Address Child Readiness (2005)
This strategy brief discusses the importance of school-family connections in ensuring a successful transition from PreK to Kindergarten.

Educator Exchange Resource Guide (1999)
This guide is for teachers and administrators interested in participating in or beginning their own teacher exchange program with another country.

Emerging Issues in School, Family, & Community Connections (2001)
This research synthesis highlights critical areas of work in family and community connections with schools where clarification, agreement, and further development are needed.

Price: $14

Empowering Rural Students with Disabilities through Assistive Technology (1994)
This publication attempts to encapsulate for the rural educator an overall perspective on the field of adaptive and assistive technology and issues related to its use in rural schools.

Engaging Families at the Secondary Level: What Schools Can Do to Support Family Involvement (2005)
This strategy brief discusses strategies for successful family involvement at the middle school and high school levels.

Enhancing Data Use and Quality to Shape Education Policy: (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 18) (2005)
In this issue of Insights, SEDL investigated state education data in four states to determine whether research can be conducted to find answers to education resource and student performance policy questions. This issue highlights study findings that policymakers will find informative in efforts to meet standards and data effectively.

Enough Dissing Already! Fostering Connections Between Foreign Language Teachers at the Primary and Secondary Levels and Higher Education: LOTE CED Communiqué - Issue 1 (2001)
This publication discusses how the foreign language education (FLE) field suffers from major "dissing" between practicing teachers, at the primary and secondary levels, and the post-secondary level.

Español para el hispanohablante (2001)
This publication is designed to aid Spanish teachers in adapting standards-based instruction to the particular needs of native-speaker classes.

Examination of Resource Allocation in Education: Connecting Spending to Student Performance (2003)
This research study investigated the relationship between resource allocation and student performance.

Facilitative Leadership: The Imperative for Change (1992)
This guide discusses successful leadership strategies that help promote change. It presents a brief history of approaches to school change, actions of successful school leaders and how they contributed significantly to successful change, and how school leaders address systemic change or restructuring.

Family and Community Involvement: Reaching Out to Diverse Populations (2000)
This book is geared toward teachers, principals, and superintendents who want to develop meaningful parent and community involvement from culturally and linguistically diverse community members.

Price: $4

Finding Common Ground: Creating Local Governance Structures (1993)
This report profiles several state initiatives that change the roles of state and local governments in the governance of service and systems for children and their families.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 10: What is Knowledge Translation? (2005)
This issue of FOCUS discusses knowledge translation, a relatively new term that is used to describe a relatively old problem-the underutilization of evidence-based research in systems of care. This article describes relevant KT concepts, KT planning models, and suggests a working definition for KT that is designed to reflect NIDRR's research and development priorities.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 11: Communities of Practice: A Strategy for Sharing and Building Knowledge (2005)
This issue of FOCUS discusses the use of Communities of Practice (CoPs) as a knowledge transfer (KT) strategy. CoPs are "groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis" (Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002). By building on its members' shared knowledge, a CoP can be useful in developing new ideas and new strategies. The NCDDR's efforts to support a CoP for NIDRR grantees are also described.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 12: What Consumers and Researchers Say About Research (2005)
The NCDDR and the Research Utilization Support and Help (RUSH) project at the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory conducted two studies in 2005 with different audiences in order to learn more about their perceptions of research and how best to get information to diverse groups of end users. This issue of FOCUS shares the findings from the two studies and suggests potential implications.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 13: Meet the New NCDDR (2006)
This issue of FOCUS summarizes the KT process as described by several international authors. International scholars, particularly from Canada and Europe, have published numerous articles on KT processes and strategies. While the majority of these KT articles are published in medical and health-care journals, there is a growing interest in applying the KT concept more generically (i.e., knowledge to action) and to other disciplines, including disability and rehabilitation research.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 14: Overview of International Literature on Knowledge Translation (2006)
This issue of FOCUS summarizes the KT process as described by several international authors. International scholars, particularly from Canada and Europe, have published numerous articles on KT processes and strategies. While the majority of these KT articles are published in medical and health-care journals, there is a growing interest in applying the KT concept more generically (i.e., knowledge to action) and to other disciplines, including disability and rehabilitation research.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 15: The Role of Systematic Reviews in Evidence-Based Practice, Research, and Development (2006)
This issue of FOCUS, written by Ralf W. Schlosser, PhD, is part one of a three part series on the topic of evidence-based technology. This issue provides an overview of systematic reviews in research and development. Systematic reviews aim to synthesize the results of multiple original studies by using strategies that delimit bias. Systematic reviews can be used to inform evidence-based practice, which is increasingly shaping the disability and rehabilitation research field.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 16: The Campbell Collaboration: Systematic Reviews and Implications for Evidence-Based Practice (2007)
This issue of FOCUS, written by Herb M. Turner III, PhD and Chad Nye, PhD, highlights the work of the Campbell Collaboration (C2) and the development of systematic reviews of research evidence.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 17: Appraising the Quality of Systematic Reviews (2007)
This FOCUS is part two of a three part series on systematic reviews. This issue describes critical considerations for appraising the quality of a systematic review including the protocol, question, sources, scope, selection principles, and data extraction. The author also describes tools for appraising systematic reviews.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 18: Knowledge Translation at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research: A Primer (2007)
This FOCUS describes the work of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and efforts to translate knowledge from the research setting into real-world applications for the benefit of Canadians.

FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 19: Getting Published and Having an Impact: Turning Rehabilitation Research Results Into Gold (2008)
This FOCUS suggests strategies that rehabilitation researchers can use to maximize their work—turning "research results into gold." In the disability and rehabilitation research community, it is important for researchers to be cognizant of how published results of research studies can facilitate or limit their use in answering important evidence-based questions.

Focus - Technical Brief Number 9: What Are the Standards for Quality Research? (2005)
This issue of FOCUS discusses principles and standards for quality research, the basis for these standards, and strategies for reporting quality research. In the fields of disability and rehabilitation research, there is a healthy debate regarding the specific criteria for quality research, and the specific checklists to be used to standardize reporting. As the debate ensues, there are many ideas emerging in the public domain related to quality research and quality evidence that can be used to help guide the discussion.

FOCUS - Technical Briefs: Numbers 1 - 8 (2003)
These technical briefs cover the following topics: Taking Steps to Protect Research Participants, The Rehabilitation Provider's Guide to Cultures of the Foreign-Born, Underachieving Students, Employment Outcomes, Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers and Employment Outcomes Research, and Universal Design and Visitability.

Follow-up Study of Rural Schools: Implementing CSR Programs in the Southwest (2003)
To determine whether isolated and small rural schools could fully participate in the Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program, the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) conducted a follow-up CSR study in Fall 2002 and its predecessor study (Carlson, 2000). The follow-up study focused on the same five rural schools featured in the predecessor study to learn the degree to which they were able to fully implement their CSR programs over the three-year period of their respective grants.

Follow-up Study of Schools Implementing Comprehensive School Reform in the Southwest (2003)

Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) programs were implemented in 1998 in five states working with the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). SEDL's five-state region includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. This study examined the implementation status of CSR programs since funding ended. Two hundred and sixty-eight surveys were distributed to schools that received CSR funding. In addition, on-site visits were conducted to a sample of school in each state. School and student performance, as available, was also examined.

This study examines the following four aspects of the Comprehensive School Reform programs:

Student performance
Program components still in place
Factors contributing to program continuation
Information on the model provider

For more information on Comprehensive School Reform (CSR), please visit:

GEARS: Creating an Approach to Support Education and Systemic Change (1993)
These publications are a series of policy supplements which focus on creating an approach to support education and systemic change.

Getting to the Heart of the (Subject) Matter: Classroom Compass - September 2002 (2002)
Classroom Compass is a collection of ideas, activities, and resources, for teachers interested in improving instruction in science and mathematics. If you've tuned in to discussions about reforming mathematics and science instruction, you've probably heard about "teaching for understanding," or "teaching to the big ideas." This issue of Classroom Compass explores the meaning behind these catchphrases and the implications for teachers and the educational system that supports — or impedes — teachers' efforts at reform.

Glossary of Reading-related Terms
This glossary of terms related to reading and reading instruction allows people to quickly and easily check terms as they encounter them.

Great TEKSpectations: Innovative Learning Scenarios for the LOTE Classroom (2001)
This publication contains thirty exciting and innovative examples of thematic, student-centered units of study which center around the five Cs of language learning (Communication, Cultures, Comparisons, Connections, and Communities) .

Price: $10

Guía de recursos para intercambios educativos (1999)
Esta guía es para maestros y administradores interesados en participar en, o iniciar, un programa de intercambio con otro país.

How Can Schools Involve Family and Community Members in Supporting a Child's Readiness for School?: An Interactive Research Brief (2006)
In this module, you will learn research-based strategies for helping children transition into the early grades and develop a strong foundation for academic success.

IC? I see! Developing Learners' Intercultural Competence: LOTE CED Communiqué - Issue 3 (2001)
This newsletter discusses new ways to teach culture in the foreign language classroom.

Implications of the No Child Left Behind Act for States in the Southwest Region (2002)
This paper helps educational leaders in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas understand the main law changes and the current situation in these states concerning new provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Improving Classroom Assessment: A Toolkit for Professional Staff Developers, Toolkit 98 (1998)
This two-volume resource for trainers contains findings and approaches to blending assessment with instruction to improve student learning.

Price: $66

In a World of Theory, Chaos Reigns: Theory to practice and Practice to Theory: LOTE CED Communiqué - Issue 2 (2001)
This newsletter discusses the connection between practitioners, who concentrate on practical applications, and theorists, who focus primarily on the language acquisition process.

Inclusion: The Pros & Cons: Issues About Change, Volume 4, Number 3 (1995)
This paper provides a balanced look at the issues arising from current policies toward inclusion and maps out considerations school and district leaders should keep in mind when setting special education policies.

Instructional Coherence: The Changing Role of the Teacher (2000)
This paper shows that policymakers and researchers have changed their views about school improvement and the role of teachers in the process of translating policy coherence into improved instructional coherence and student learning.

Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Language (Paso Partners): An Instructional Program Volume I (Grades K-1) (1993)
This publication attacks the problem of poor mathematics and science achievement among Limited English Proficient Hispanic students in grades K-1.

Price: $26

Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Language (Paso Partners): An Instructional Program Volume II (Grades 2-3) (1993)
This publication attacks the problem of poor mathematics and science achievement among Limited English Proficient Hispanic students in grades 2-3.

Price: $26

Investigation of Education Databases in Four States to Support Policy Research on Resource Allocation (2005)
In this report, SEDL researchers investigate data collected and managed by state education agencies to determine whether new research can be conducted to support policy questions about education resources and student performance.

Investing in Instruction for Higher Student Achievement: (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 15) (2003)
Allocating resources is one of the toughest tasks a policymaker faces. To make the most of the education dollars in hand, state and local leaders want to concentrate spending where it will have the greatest impact on student achievement. Recent studies show that it is not that simple. For the first time, research is beginning to shed light on these critical gaps, and our study helps illuminate resource allocation issues in the Southwest.

Knowledge Translation: Introduction to Models, Strategies, and Measures (2007)
This literature review is designed to bring together several aspects o knowledge translation from selected literature for the purpose of raising awareness, connecting thoughts and perspectives, and stimulating ideas and questions about knowledge translation for future research of the area of inquiry in rehabilitation.

La creación de apoyo para mejores escuelas: Siete pasos para lograr la participación de todas las communidades (2000)
Esta guía es práctica y es diseñada para maestros, líderes cívicos, organizadores de la comunidad o cualquier persona que le interesa involucrar a las comunidades que tradicionalmente no participan en las escuelas.

Price: $4

La deliberación pública: Una forma de enlazar la reforma escolar con la diversidad cultural (1999)
Esta publicación cubre varios procesos de la deliberación pública con respecto a la reforma escolar y asuntos de diversidad.

Price: $10

La Implementación de la Tecnología en el Salón de Clases: Una guía para los que toman decisiones en las escuelas rurales (1998)
Esta guía incluye consejos para desarrollar un plan de tecnología, asignar recursos, estrategias para promover la integración a base del desarrollo de personal, y asegurar un uso equitativo de la tecnología.

Price: $12.50

La ley "No Child Left Behind" Opción de cambio de secuela: Guía informativa para padres de familia (2005)
The purpose of this guide is to help parents understand the school transfer option when a school has not met the standards required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Also available in Spanish.

La participación de la familia y la comunidad: El acercamiento a las diversas poblaciones (2000)
Este libro está dirigido a maestros, directores y superintendentes que desean generar el involucramiento significativo de los padres de familia y comunidad por parte de miembros comunitarios de diverso origen cultural y linguístico.

Price: $4

Launching Professional Learning Communities: Beginning Actions: Issues About Change, Volume 8, Number 1 (2000)
This briefing paper identifies themes that describe actions taken at schools to develop professional learning communities.

Leadership Characteristics that Facilitate Change (1992)
This guide explores the personal qualities that contribute to a person's leadership practices and examines how personal qualities influence educational leadership. The main topics discussed are some key leadership concepts, characteristics found in effective educational, and implications of these characteristics when leaders implement or initiate school change.

Leadership: An Imperative for Successful Change: Issues About Change, Volume 1, Number 2 (1991)
This paper reviews the literature on leaders' strategies for school change, identifies five strategies, and describes how the strategies are applied at the district and local school levels.

Leading Change from the Classroom: Teachers as Leaders: Issues About Change, Volume 4, Number 4 (1995)
This paper discusses what teacher leadership is, why it is important, and what we know about the working lives of teacher-leaders.

Learning Outside of the School Classroom: What Teachers Can Do to Involve Family in Supporting Classroom Instruction (2004)
This strategy brief was produced by SEDL's National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, part of SEDL's Regional Educational Laboratory contract. The Center links people with research-based information and resources that they can use to effectively connect schools, families, and communities.

Learning without Walls: Classroom Compass - Volume 5, Number 1 (2000)
This newsletter issue demonstrates some of the factors all good field trips share and what teachers, principals, and students can do to make sure a field experience enhances classroom learning.

Library of Knowledge Translation Resources (2008)
The Library of Knowledge Translation Resources is designed to provide information to researchers and interested members of the public about a wide spectrum of knowledge translation and evidence-based resources.

Literacy Profile Folder: How to Use the Literacy Profile (2001)
This brief guide demonstrates how to use the Literacy Profile Folder effectively in the classroom.

LOTE CED Lowdown
This newsletter contains news about topics of interest to language educators, LOTE CED activities, dates of professional conferences, information on teaching resources, and a spotlight on the TEKS for LOTE.

Louisiana Mathematics and Science Education Sources: Louisiana Landscape Paper (2003)
This landscape paper for teachers, principals and parents tracks down sources of help, information, and resources in science and mathematics education in Louisiana.

Making Assessment Work for Everyone: How to Build on Student Strengths (2000)
This publication provides teachers with research information and practical ideas for modifying assessments to make them more effective.

Price: $15

Making Education Dollars Work: Understanding Resource Allocation (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 14) (2001)
This policy brief introduces state policymakers to information about current practice and research on education resource allocation and heightens awareness of the issues and concerns regarding this topic.

Making the Connection: A Guide to Involving Policymakers in a Community Dialogue on Education (2000)
This booklet is designed for anyone who is interested in bringing state policymakers and their constituents together to dialogue and deliberate about public education.

Making the Most of the Connection: A Policymaker's Guide to Participating in a Community Dialogue on Education (2000)
This booklet is designed to serve as a handy guide to participating with constituents in community dialogues on education.

Maryetta School: The Center of a Rural Community: Issues About Change, Volume 5, Number 1 (1995)
This paper six key leadership strategies that led to academic improvements and high parental involvement at an award-winning, rural Oklahoma school where 82 percent of the students are American Indians.

Mentoring Beginning Teachers: Lessons from the Experience in Texas (2000)
This paper contains research on teacher mentoring programs as a strategy to address beginning teacher quality and retention.

Multiple Mirrors: Reflections on the Creation of Professional Learning Communities (2000)
This publication is a collection of stories written by the co-developers who worked with SEDL in assisting schools to create professional learning communities in a sample of schools.

Native Education Resources for the Southwest Region (1999)
This book serves as a regional directory on resources that might be helpful to educators of American Indian students in SEDL's five-state region.

NCLB School Transfer Option: Parent Information Guide (2005)
The purpose of this guide is to help parents understand the school transfer option when a school has not met the standards required by the No Child Left Behind Act. Also available in Spanish.

New Alliance of Superintendents and Principals: Applying the Research to Site-Based Decision-Making: Issues About Change, Volume 2, Number 1 (1992)
This review presents three roles that effective school superintendents play, and presents three strategies that effective superintendents use to improve teaching.

New Mexico Mathematics and Science Education Sources: New Mexico Landscape Paper (2003)
This landscape paper for teachers, principals and parents tracks down sources of help, information, and resources in science and mathematics education in New Mexico.

Oklahoma Mathematics and Science Education Sources: Oklahoma Landscape Paper (2002)
This paper contains material to track down sources of help, information, and resources in science and mathematics education in Oklahoma.

Online Professional Development Center: for Teachers of Languages Other Than English (LOTE) (2003)
The LOTE CED Online professional Development Center includes five free self-guided professional development courses that help PreK-12 foreign language educators enhance their proficiency in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Languages Other Than English (TEKS for LOTE).

Organizing Family and Community Connections With Schools: How Do School Staff Build Meaningful Relationships With All Stakeholders? (2005)
This strategy brief examines proactive strategies schools can use to help them build strong relationships with family and community.

Philanthropic Support for Public Education in the Southwest (2000)
This report examines the relationship between philanthropy and public schools in five states -- Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas -- that comprise the "Southwestern Region" served by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) under its federal contract as a Regional Educational Laboratory.

Policymakers Build Bridges: (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 13) (2000)
This brief is the last in a series of Insights on SEDL's investigation of the potential use of study circles to engage the public and state-level decision makers in discussions about education.

Preparing Language Teachers to Implement the TEKS for LOTE (1997)
This document identifies pre-service teacher standards and provides guidelines for teacher training institutions

Principal's Role in the Instructional Process: Implications for At-Risk Students: Issues About Change, Volume 1, Number 3 (1991)
This paper focuses on the interactions and six behaviors of principals and teachers who work to change and improve schools for children at risk.

Principals and Teachers: Continuous Learners: Issues About Change, Volume 7, Number 2 (1999)
This paper discusses how three principals have increased staff capacity by developing professional development relationships with their staffs and encouraged their participation in the decision-making process.

Professional Development and Teachers' Construction of Coherent Instructional Practices: A Synthesis of Experiences in Five Sites (2000)
This publication documents what kinds of support teachers need and to develop strategies, tools, activities, and resources to support teacher growth.

Professional Development for Language Teachers: Implementing the TEKS for LOTE (1997)
This document identifies in-service teacher standards and describes three models of professional development.

Professional Learning Communities: Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement (1997)
This publication includes stories and reports of research on how school professional staff - teachers and principals - organize as a learning community.

Price: $15

Professional Learning Communities: An Ongoing Exploration (2000)
This book provides a review of the five dimensions along which a school staff should operate in order to become a learning community and discusses the role such a community can play in school reform.

Price: $12

Professional Learning Communities: What Are They and Why Are They Important?: Issues About Change, Volume 6, Number 1 (1997)
This lucid review of the research on professional learning communities defines five important attributes of professional learning communities and identifies the outcomes they deliver to staff and students.

Profiles of Native Language Education Programs (1999)
This book describes 24 programs in SEDL's region and gives teachers and other educators who serve American Indian students in the Southwest access to organizations and resources that can help them meet the educational needs of this often underserved population.

Progress of Education in Louisiana, The (1999)
This paper describes the history and progress of education in Louisiana and how various factors influence teaching in the state, including educational reform initiatives in Louisiana and changes in critical policies.

Progress of Education in Texas, The (2000)
This paper describes the history and progress of education in Texas and how various factors influence teaching in the state.

Progress Report to Districts and Schools: SEDL's Working Systemically Model (2003)
A report of the findings based on analyses of more than 260 interviews with teachers, administrators, parents, and other staff and field notes of SEDL coordinators who worked with the districts.

Promoting Diversity, Valuing Difference: Classroom Compass - March 2002 (2002)
This newsletter issue discusses opportunities to engage a wider range of students with diverse backgrounds, interests, and experiences in solving mathematical problems.

Public Deliberation: A Tool for Connecting School Reform and Diversity (1999)
This publication discusses various processes of public deliberation in regard to school reform and diversity issues.

Price: $10

Pulling Together: R&D Resources for Rural Schools (1994)
This portfolio for rural educators summarizes the changes taking place in rural America, what they mean for rural education, and the R&D role of the Regional Educational Laboratories.

Putting Technology into the Classroom: A Guide for Rural Decisionmakers (1998)
This guide includes pointers on developing a technology plan, allocating resources, strategies for supporting integration through staff development, and ensuring equitable use of technology.

Price: $12.50

Quick Takes: Improving Mathematics Education: What Can We Learn from International Studies? (2005)
Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching (SCIMAST). This Quick Take explores using the TIMSS Report.

Quick Takes: Assessment - What is the Best Way to Monitor My Child's Progress in Mathematics and Science? (2002)
Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching (SCIMAST). This Quick Take explores the issue of assessment.

Quick Takes: Calculators in the Classroom (1998)
Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching (SCIMAST). This Quick Take explores the issue of calculators in the classroom.

Quick Takes: Tracking Decisions Change Lives (2000)
Eisenhower Southwest Consortium for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Teaching (SCIMAST). This Quick Take explores how tracking decisions change lives.

Reaching Out to Diverse Populations: What Can Schools Do to Foster Family-School Connections? (2005)
This strategy brief includes strategies schools can use to promote involvement of families from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Readiness: School, Family, & Community Connections (2004)
The fourth and newest research synthesis focusing on family and community connections with schools describes 48 research studies on the contextual factors associated with children's readiness.

Price: $22

Reading Across the Region (1999)
This short paper is a summary of reading initiatives and legislation in place or under consideration in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Reading Assessment Database for Grades K-2 (2006)
This database desc