Education Law
Sue Watson, a developmental support counselor, provides information and resources on special education and learning disabilities. Find articles, checklists and resource recommendations. Topics include testing and assessment, the IEP, literacy and teacher strategies.
ADA Advocacy Network Legal Materials Bank
The American Diabetes Association makes available a collection of materials on discrimination issues prepared especially for lawyers and other legal professionals. They consist of training materials and background information as well as publications on litigation and legislative issues. Find articles, briefs and other documents on discrimination issues pertaining to those with diabetes.
Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 (Cornell LII)
Read this federal law as codified. For more information, see the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 by the U.S. Department of Education.
Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds offers this bibliographic database of literature about education and training issues. It covers over 300 journals published in the British Isles, similar report and conference literature, and texts in the Education-line collection.
Browse the database by subject or title; or conduct a keyword query. A useful feature lets searchers query the database's thesaurus to discover related terms or the indexing of a term.
Campus Legal Information Clearinghouse
The staff at The Catholic University of America's Office of General Counsel, with the collaboration of the American Council on Education (ACE), offers a collection of materials on educational compliance issues. Find sample or draft security plans that comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, news and information about important case law and executive documents, articles and more. Issues covered include ADA compliance, immigration, harassment, campus security and more. An additional feature of the Web site -- called Quick Clicks -- finds laws related to the topic as well as related publications, videos and Web-based tutorials and resources, forms and checklists.
The Office of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education offers this database of crime statistics for colleges and universities in the United States. Search by geographic region, state, city, institution name, type of institution or instructional program, or by number of students enrolled. However, many colleges do not report local crime statistics.
The U.S. Department of Education published this report on a "survey about the 1 percent of the Nation's school districts that serve 23 percent of all public school students. It includes information about the numbers of dropouts and high school completers, student participation in selected programs, the numbers of teachers, and revenues and expenditures in these districts." The report is available in PDF. A keyword index provides access to related information from the agency.
Citations to published literature on international rehabilitation research. Search by a variety of criteria to find articles, conference proceedings, and more. Because of its international focus, the database provides citations to documents in multiple languages. When relevant, records include links to abstracts appearing in MEDLINE/PubMed, or to full-text documents available at other Web sites.
The National Center for Education Statistics offers this database of information about higher education institutions. Search by geographic area, type of institution, type of instructional program, and other criteria to find matching institutions. Obtain general information, including key contact information, information about federal aid programs, degrees offered, and a break-down of average costs for first-year students.
A program of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data provides a statistical database of information concerning all public elementary and secondary schools (approximately 95,000) and school districts (approximately 17,000). Use the pull-down menu under Data Resources to find various search options, including the ability to create your own table of statistical information.
Find an index to bibliographic information about the school systems, curriculum and educational policies of countries around the world. The bibliography is compiled and maintained by the International Bureau of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Databases of the International Bureau of Education
The International Bureau of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) offers this index to its databases, World Data on Education, Country Dossiers, RelatED and IBEDOCS. The databases provide profiles of education systems worldwide, country data, information about school-based initiatives around the world and access to the library catalog of the International Conference on Education. For more information about these resources, see the annotations for the individual databases.
Digest of Education Statistics
This National Center for Education Statistics publication covers a variety of subjects in the field of education statistics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, employment and income of graduates, libraries, and international education. Display sections of the Digest as Web pages, or download it in portable document format (PDF)
28 November 2001. A school certified psychologist in private practice offers a wealth of information for researchers interested in special education issues. Find information about various disorders that include definitions with cited references and sources of additional information. Also uncover easy-to-read articles about specific aspects of a disability; for example, in the section on dyslexia, find an article about phonemic awareness. The site also offers many articles containing practical advice for those dealing with special education issues; see for example "How to Prepare a Psychoeducational Evaluation Report and Testify as an Expert Witness.
Educating the Net Generation (EDUCAUSE e-Book, 2005) is a free electronic book. You may read the entire book online, or download it in PDF. "The aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles of Net Gen students reflect the environment in which they were raised-one that is decidedly different from that which existed when faculty and administrators were growing up." Chapters include information on understanding the Net Generation, learning expectations, using technology as a learning tool, the student's perspective, support services, faculty development, and more.
Education Law Infosource Ltd. publishes this two-part newsletter on legal issues in education. The Education Law Reporter (elementary and secondary schools) and the Education Law Reporter for Post-Secondary Institutions offers summaries of relevant education law cases from all Canadian jurisdictions. Written primarily for school personnel, it provides the facts of the case, causes of action, decisions, reasons and "Implications and Applications." The Web site provides sample articles from both newsletters as well as a topical index.
Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds offers this database of conference papers, working papers and electronic literature on education related issues. Browse the database by author, subject or title keyword; or conduct a query. Searchable fields include author, title, subject or any part of the record. A useful feature lets searchers query the database's thesaurus to discover related terms or the indexing of a particular word. You can display full-text documents in HTML or Word format.
A non-profit association that strives to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology, EDUCAUSE provides a number of useful resources and resource guides. Topics covered include cybersecurity, information systems and services, technology management and leadership, libraries and technology, networking and emerging technologies, policy and law, and teaching and learning. The resource guides link to relevant academic articles, as well as blog comments and articles from EDUCAUSE publications. The site also provides e-mail alerts as well as RSS and Atom feeds for keeping up with new information.
ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, ERIC produces a database of literature on education related issues. The database contains bibliographic citations dating back to 1966 and a small collection of full-text documents issued since 1993. You can search by a variety of criteria, including author, title or keyword. Results include annotated bibliographic references with information about how to obtain the full-text if it isn't in the database. You can also display the full record, which shows the subject indexing in order to expand a search. Another feature lets you limit queries to retrieve only full-text documents.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) on Cornell LII
This federal law appears at 20 U.S.C. 1232g. For more information, see Privacy, Education Records, FERPA at Wrightslaw or Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act at the U.S. Department of Education.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City hosts this educational Web site on economics and personal finance. Teachers and students will find instructional materials and tools that educate about the Federal Reserve, economics and finance. Topics include consumer banking, consumer protection, economics, home ownership and mortgages, interest rates and loans and credit. There is also a history of the Federal Reserve, as well as information about its structure, monetary policy, banking supervision and financial services.
Designed for kids, this National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) locator tool offers data of potential interest to education researchers. Obtain lists of public or private schools in U.S. municipalities. Data includes the same as provided by the NCES National Public School and School District Locator. Find school contact information, enrollment data, including enrollment by grade, number of teachers, and a breakdown of minority enrollment. For more advanced search criteria (same data), see National Public School and School District Locator.
NOTE: I found some discrepancies in the data returned when using the combined locator tool (kid's site). Some of the data available using the single locator tools did not appear.
Florida Discipline Against Educator Licenses
The Florida Department of Education provides search access to public disciplinary actions against teachers or administrators. Search by name or school district to find the Education Practices Commission case number, the disciplined individual's full name, school district, order type (surrender, settlement), final order summary, and the order date. You may also display the full text of the order. The database covers orders issued on or after 1 January 2007.
Please note: Displaying the full text of the order requires Internet Explorer. IE Tab for Firefox also works.
Government Resources: Education
PI Buzz highlights several resources for finding education-related government information. It provides a link for finding state education department Web sites, demographics resources, a directory of schools and school districts in New Mexico, the Michigan teacher certification verification database, as well as Pennsylvania and New Jersey sites for verifying a teacher's certification by SSN. This summary complements another PI Buzz write-up, titled "Verify a teacher certification or credential." (See our summary of it under "Education Law" or "Tools for Finding Public Records."
The International Bureau of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) provides access to its catalog of journals, articles, reports, books and other documents, published since 1971, on the organization and development of education, educational innovations, curriculum and literacy.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2001
The National Center for Education Statistics offers this report on crime at school. It provides the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources--the National Crime Victimization Survey (1992-99), the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (1989, 1995 and 1999), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999), and the School and Staffing Survey (1993-94). Because this appears to be an annual report, you should search the site for more current data.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) on Cornell LII
Read this federal law as codified. For more information, see Wrightslaw or the U.S. Department of Education's IDEA '97 Web site.
Information Sources For Education On The Web
Librarian David Renfree reviews educational resources in the United Kingdom. The article, which appears in FreePint (16 September 2004), covers official sources, third-party research sources, international resources and more. This is a good place to start for research about U.K. educational issues.
Instant Disability Information Center
6 February 2003. The National Rehabilitation Information Center for Independence (NARIC) provides this simple search interface to several of its proprietary databases. The databases -- REHABDATA, NIDRR Research, and NARIC Knowledgebase -- provide bibliographic information about rehabilitation literature, information about National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) projects and program directory, and information about disability resources. The Center also offers a document delivery service for items found in the databases.
Provides overview of education law, including links to statutes, cases, regulations, news, and blogs on the topic.
Designed for parents, teachers, and students, LD Online offers articles, message boards, publications, and more. The LD Store offers an excellent selection of publications on legal issues pertaining to learning disabilities. Searchers will also find useful links for additional sources of information.
National Center for Education Statistics
Part of the U.S. Department of Education, the NCES collects and publishes statistics pertaining to education in the U.S. as well as other nations. Find NCES publications, various locator tools including those for private and public schools, The Digest of Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, surveys, and more.
National Center for Learning Disabilities
Find current news, statistics, facts about various types of learning disabilities, advice for parents and teachers, legislative information and more.
National Public School and School District Locator
Find contact and enrollment information for public and private schools in the U.S. This locator tool offers advanced search criteria unlike the ones available at Find Your School.
National Resource Center Library
Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Resource Center on AD/HD provides search access to its collection of resources on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The collection includes books and articles and covers topics like symptoms and diagnosis, parenting, adults with AD/HD, problems in school, behavior, medication, teaching children with AD/HD and treatment. Some of the collection is available online in full text.
NBCT (National Board Certification) Directory
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards offers a directory of teachers, who have achieved national certification. NBCT appears to stand for National Board Certification Test (or Testing). There is no definition on the organization's Web site. Search by location (state, city or district), year, name or certification topic to find the full name of the certified indivdual, the school district and its location, the certified area of study, the year certification was achieved and its termination date.
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
Read the law as passed. As of this writing, it has not been codified; however, it will amend 20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq. For more information, see The "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" - What Does It Mean to You? by Wrightslaw or the U.S. Department of Education's No Child Left Behind Web site.
The Ohio Department of Education makes public disciplinary actions against educators available. You may search by teacher or administrator name or identification number, school district or zip code. Search results contain the educator's full name, date of birth, school district, zip code, reason for the discipline, the disciplinary action, and the date of the action.
Pennsylvania Teacher Disciplinary Actions
The Professional Standards and Practices Commission of the Pennsylvania Department of Education makes available notification of certificate actions, or public disciplinary actions against teachers or administrators. This is a listing in reverse chronological order. The list provides the name of the disciplined individual, aliases, the school district, position held, type of certification, status, cause of action and the date the action was taken.
There is no database to search. However, a site search will retrieve documents from the list.
Search for higher education schools, graduate programs, adult learning programs, and more.
The Education Commission of the States, a non-profit organization on state education policy, offers a database of information about state pre-kindergarten programs. You can obtain a state profile, compare one or more states, or obtain information about specific topics such as funding or standards on all 50 states. The database offers a description of the program including a brief legislative history, funding information, information about Head Start, eligibility requirements, number of child served, and more.
Public School District Finance Peer Search
The National Center for Education Statistics offers this database for comparing the finances of a school district with its peers. "Peer districts are districts which share similarities among these characteristics: total students; Student/Teacher Ratio; Percent Children in Poverty; District Type; and Locale Code." Data provided includes revenues, expenditures and district characteristics.
Find descriptions of school-related projects and initiatives around the world. You may search by region, keyword or other criteria to find information about initiatives addressing issues, such as adult education, alternative education, behavioral problems, community education and more. The database is maintained by the International Bureau of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Reporter's Back-to-School Guide to National Education Data
The National Center for Education Statistics prepared this guide "to assist reporters who need information to put local education stories into national context." It offer information for news stories about math scores, reading scores, science scores, gap in achievement, school choice, teacher qualification, and starting college. The mini-guides point reporters to specific facts; e.g., "[M]ost teachers participate in [professional development] activity only 18 hours [per year]."
Sponsored by Standard & Poor's, this Web site provides
educators, policymakers, business leaders, parents and taxpayers with
an independent analysis of school and school district data. The site's
goal is to empower this target audience with the information needed to
implement more effective school reform policies. It provides basic
information, as well as data and analysis on public schools in each
state. For example, you will find the state agency contact information,
statistics on public education in the state, including the number of
students, schools and districts, spending per student, and performance
on standardized tests. You will find analytical reports, community
demographics and more. There is also a glossary of educational terms.
This is a free public service Web site.
Schoolbug.org offers information about public schools and school districts in the United States. Use the interactive map or text links to find schools in a particular county. Information provided includes the name of the school, school district, mailing address, phone number, grades covered, total number of students, student/teacher ratio, number of full-time staff and ethnic statistics. School district details include a district phone number, mailing address, total number of students and the number of schools.
This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) database contains the results of a 1999-2000 private school survey conducted by the Department of Education. Find contact, enrollment, and other information about private schools in the United States.
Search for Schools, Colleges, and Libraries
The National Center for Education Statistics offers this database of contact and enrollment information about schools and colleges nationwide. Search by school name or location. With respect to libraries, the database provides name, location, institution type, phone, collection statistics (number of volumes, circulation, etc.), visitor statistics, and spending statistics.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 on Cornell LII
9 May 2002. Revised 23 October 2007. Read this section of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as codified. For more information, see Discussion of Section 504, the ADA, and the IDEA or Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Education Reform by Wrightslaw.
South Carolina Education Orders of Disciplinary Action
The South Carolina Department of Education makes available a listing of public disciplinary actions from January 2003 to present. Appearing in reverse chronological order, the listing shows the full name of the individual as well as the action taken. You may display the full text of the order when available.
Chicago, Illinois-based attorney, Charles P. Fox, comments on news and legal developments pertaining to learning disabilities and special education. Some of the topics include assistive technology, diagnostic testing and parent advocacy. This blog offers an RSS feed.
Special Education Resources on the Internet
Compiled by Roseann Horner, whose credentials do not appear at the Web site, this site nonetheless appears to be a useful collection of briefly annotated resources pertaining to special education issues. It covers topics like special education law, learning disabilities, specific types of disabilities, resources for parents and educators and more. It even offers a section covering select books on special education.
Please note: While the site continues to index potentially useful resources, many of the links are dead. It appears that this collection of links is not kept up to date.
The National Center for Education Statistics provides information about state elementary, secondary and postsecondary education. Search by state to find state statistics and national averages. Statistics include the number of schools, students and teachers, pupil to teacher ratio, revenue and expenditures, and demographics. You may compare up to 4 states by holding the control key while selecting the states.
Texas Official Record of Educator Certificates
The Texas State Board for Educator Certification enables searching for teacher certification status. Search by Social Security number and last name or last name and first name. Results are limited to 20. They provide the full name of the individual, gender, ethnicity, type of certificate, effective date, expiration date and status. Information about disciplinary actions is noted.
Verify a teacher certification or credential
PI Buzz highlights government resources for obtaining information about teacher certification. Several states, including Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee and West Virginia, provide ways to search for this information online. The write-up also refers readers to the NBCT Directory for finding national certification, as well as two state sites that provide verification look-ups. PI Buzz also provides a related summary, titled" Government Resources: Education." (See our reference to it under "Education Law" or "Tools for Finding Public Records.")
Vermont Educator Disciplinary Actions
The Vermont Department of Education provides a listing of public disciplinary actions against teachers or administrators. There are 2 lists, one covering the most recent suspensions and revocations and the other covering suspensions and revocations from 1 January 2000 to present. The lists include the full name of the individual, town of residence, the school district, the license type, the grounds for disciplinary action, the disciplinary action taken and the date of the action.
Violence Intervention and Prevention Database
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers this bibliographic database of literature pertaining to issues of violence and children. It covers bullying, child abuse, domestic violence, mediation, school violence, and more. When available, the bibliographic record links to the full-text publication.
The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) offers this database of bibliographic citations and abstracts on violence-related literature. Covering journal articles, books, reports and literature reviews, the database provides information about research and literature on many topics, including school violence, workplace violence, road rage, domestic abuse and elder abuse.
Find profiles of national education systems around the world. Provided by The International Bureau of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), WDE provides basic demographic and education statistics as well as information about the country's general objectives of education, current educational priorities, education-related laws, administration and management of the education system and organization of the education system. You may search or browse the database. It is available in English, French and Spanish.
Technical note: If you browse the database by selecting the Table of Contents option, it automatically defaults to the French language. There does not appear to be an option to convert to English once you display the Table of Contents.
Attorney Pete Wright (author of Wrightslaw: Special Education Law) and psychotherapist Pam Wright offer articles, news, case law, statutes, regulations, and more pertaining to legal issues in special education. Learn about IEPs (Individualized Education Programs), tests and special education assessments, FAPE (free appropriate public education), mediation, records and confidentiality, and more.
