2007-08 ILLINOIS HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT MAPS
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/images/PDF/hsdropoutmaps.pdf
This set of maps shows how the high school drop out problem is spread throughout Illinois, but more severe in the urban areas like Chicago.  These maps were created by the Regional Education Laboratory at  Learning Point Associates. 

BUILDING A GRAD NATION REPORT
https://www.americaspromise.org/building-grad-nation-report
This report has been produced every year since 2015 and earlier. It shows "detailed progress toward the GradNation goal of a national on-time graduation rate of 90 percent by 2020."  Use in  your own community to support your own drop out  prevention and workforce development strategies. 

6 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES
https://www.theedadvocate.org/6-reasons-why-you-should-care-about-high-school-dropout-rates/
This is article on The Edvocate site by Matthew Lynch.  Also read previous article titled, HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES: A CRISIS?, found at http://www.theedadvocate.org/high-school-dropout-rates-a-crisis/

AMERICAN GRADUATE - LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN
https://www.cpb.org/americangraduate/
From the web site: "American Graduate: Let’s Make it Happen is public media’s long-term commitment to supporting community-based solutions to help keep youth on the track to a high school diploma and beyond. Supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), more than 128 public radio and television stations have joined forces with more than 1,700 partners and at-risk schools across 48 states and one territory."

AMERICAN GRADUATE CHAMPIONS (WTTW CHICAGO)
http://americangraduate.wttw.com/main/
From the web site: "Through the American Graduate Champion series WTTW leverages the power and reach of public media to highlight organizations and individual champions that are working to improve educational outcomes for youth, keeping them on the path to high school graduation and future success." Browse the site to see stories and look for ways others can get involved.

CENTER FOR BEST PRACTICES EDUCATION - NATIONAL GOVERNOR'S ASSOCIATION
https://www.nga.org/Educateforopportunity/
From the web site: "The NGA Center for Best Practices Education Division provides information, research, policy analysis, technical assistance and resource development for governors and their staff in the areas of early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education. The division focuses on helping governors develop effective policy and support its implementation in the areas of: early education, readiness and quality; the Common Core State Standards, Science Technology Engineering and Math and related assessments; teacher and leader effectiveness; competency-based learning; charter schools; data and accountability; and postsecondary (higher education and workforce training) access, success, productivity, accountability, and affordability. The division also works on policy issues related to bridging the system divides among the early childhood, K-12, postsecondary and workforce systems." 

COLLEGE COMPLETION RATES - STATE DATA
http://completecollege.org/data-dashboard/
From the web site: "Established in 2009, Complete College America is a national nonprofit with a single mission: to work with states to significantly increase the number of Americans with quality career certificates or college degrees and to close attainment gaps for traditionally underrepresented populations." This link points to a page where you can "Click your state to see a snapshot of its progress and student success data." 

CONSEQUENCES OF DROPPING OUT OF SCHOOL (PDF)
click here
This 2009 report provides additional evidence of the high cost to individuals and society of the high school drop out crisis. The report was prepared by Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada and Joseph McLaughlin With Sheila Palma, from the Center for Labor Market Studies,  Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

COUNCIL OF THE GREAT CITY SCHOOLS - RESEARCH PAGE
https://www.cgcs.org/domain/9
From the web site: "The Council of the Great City Schools brings together the nation’s largest urban public school systems in a coalition dedicated to the improvement of education for children in the inner cities. The Council and its member school districts work to help our schoolchildren meet the highest standards and become successful and productive members of society.   This link points to the Council's research page.

CUTTING SCHOOL DROP-OUT RATE, 2008 OECD REPORT
click here
The high school drop out problem is not just a US problem. Read this report that shows how the problem is being addressed in Europe.

DISCONNECTED YOUTH - ISSUELAB BY CANDID RESOURCE CENTER
https://www.issuelab.org/resource/disconnected-youth-special-collection-archived.html
From the web site: "In a far-reaching effort to help disconnected youth, nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies across the U.S. are providing support in the form of shelters, job training, mentorship, college prep, job placement, and mental and reproductive health services. But in order to achieve success it is clear that these efforts require greater alignment and coordination. This special collection gathers the many lessons being learned in the field; lessons about the challenges in meeting the needs of disconnected youth and the promise of both new and more proven approaches."

DOLLAR VALUE OF SAVING A HIGH-RISK YOUTH
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1077214#PaperDownload
In 1995, Mark Cohen, Vanderbilt University Law Professor, calculated that the monetary value of "saving" one high-risk youth was between $1.7 million and $2.3 million, based on costs to crime victims and the criminal justice system, the costs to society of heavy drug abuse and the economic impact of dropping out of high school.  Using new data, Professor Cohen and City University of New York criminal justice professor Alex Piquero have updated this information.  The report can be downloaded as a PDF from the link above.

DROP OUT STATISTICS BY STATE
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/coi
This National Center for Education Statistics site shows public high school drop out rates across the country.

EVERYONE GRADUATES CENTER AT JOHNS HOPKINS
http://www.every1graduates.org/
From the web site: "The mission of the Everyone Graduates Center is to develop and disseminate the know-how required to enable all students to graduate from high school prepared for college, career, and civic life. Through a systematic and comprehensive approach, EGC combines analysis of the causes, location, and consequences of the nation’s dropout crisis with the development of tools and models designed to keep all students on the path to high school graduation, and capacity building efforts to enable states, communities, school districts, and schools to provide all their students with the supports they need to succeed. The Everyone Graduate Center seeks to identify the barriers that stand in the way of all students graduating from high school prepared for adult success, to develop strategic solutions to overcome the barriers, and to build local capacity to implement and sustain them."

LISTENING TO LATINAS - BARRIERS TO HS GRADUATION
https://nwlc.org/resources/listening-latinas-barriers-high-school-graduation/
This report on the Women's National Law Center web site shows obstacles that Hispanic girls face that causes a high percent to drop out before finishing high school. Mentoring is proposed as one solution.

LOCATING THE DROPOUT CRISIS (PDF) 2004
https://web.archive.org/web/20160312092032/http://www.csos.jhu.edu/crespar/techReports/report70.pdf
This report's Executive Summary begins with "Imagine a nation in which all students, from Benton Harbor to Watts, from Akron to Baltimore, from Chicago’s South side to rural South Carolina, routinely graduate from high school ready and prepared to succeed in college or advanced post-secondary training. Imagine the social and economic implications of being able to say to any child, in any locale in the United States, “you will be provided with a high school that will educate you, challenge you, care for you, support you, and graduate you ready to compete and succeed in the world.”  Still a problem in 2020. 

NATIONAL DROP OUT PREVENTION CENTER
http://dropoutprevention.org/effective-strategies/
From the web site: "Since 1986, the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (NDPC/N) has conducted and analyzed research; sponsored workshops and national conferences; and collaborated with researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to further the mission of reducing America’s dropout rate by meeting the needs of youth in at-risk situations, including students with disabilities." 

NATIONAL YOUTH EMPLOYMENT COALITION
https://nyec.org/aboutus/
From the web site: "he National Youth Employment Coalition improves the lives of the 5.5 million young people who are out of school and out of work. We do this by improving the effectiveness of the organizations, and the systems, that serve these "opportunity youth." We collect, study, and support the implementation of best practices, all with a strong equity focus."

PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY – 2010 PDF
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/10/02/pathways-prosperity-seeks-redefine-american-education-system
Pathways to Prosperity Seeks to Redefine American Education System: This article posted on the Harvard School of Education web site talks about a Pathways to Prosperity conference held at Cisco's headquarters in Silicon Valley. This "Pathways to Prosperity" report (pdf) was published in 2011. http://www.sawdc.com/media/5959/pathways_to_prosperity_feb2011.pdf  

PHILADELPHIA YOUTH NETWORK - A COLLECTIVE IMPACT MODEL
https://www.pyninc.org/our-initiatives/our-approach/
From the web site:  "The Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) is an intermediary organization dedicated to connecting systems and leveraging resources to increase the number of opportunities for youth. PYN has been working for nearly two decades with communities to create coordinated systems which promote the attainment of academic achievement, economic opportunity and personal success. We manage and support large-scale cross-sector initiatives while developing targeted programs to expand access to services for underserved young people."

QUANTUM OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM - 2009 AND 2014
https://www.blueprintsprograms.org/eisenhower-quantum-opportunities-program/
From the web site: "Eisenhower Quantum was implemented between 2009 and 2014 across 5 sites in the U.S. and evaluated by Curtis et al. (2015, 2016). The randomized controlled trial followed 300 at-risk 9th grade students (N= 60 per site) over all 4 years of high school and focused on assessing the program’s impact on 5 measures of academic success (four at post test and one at 1-year post intervention): high school GPA, on-time high school graduation, college acceptance, college enrollment, and persistence in college for one academic year."

QUANTUM OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM: A BRIEF ON THE QOP PILOT PROGRAM (1995)
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED385621
From the report: "The Quantum Opportunities Program (called "QOP") is an innovative four-year, year-round pilot program that provided learning opportunities, development opportunities, service opportunities and summer jobs to small groups of youth from families receiving public assistance.  A brief summary of the report can also be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20101228151550/http://www.aypf.org/publications/compendium/C1S37.pdf

Through this four-year pilot program and a rigorous evaluation, we learned that it is possible to make a quantum difference in the lives of these youths. We learned that it takes a critical mass of service, support, nurturing, incentives, creativity, caring, compassion, and especially patience. And, we learned that the impacts on young people gain strength over time. This is an important lesson for policymakers, who customarily seek immediate feedback about program success or failure. Premature examination would have labeled this program a failure."

This report has been part of the Tutor/Mentor Connection library since we received it in 1995. It demonstrates what's possible when a core group of people make a deep commitment to young people, and are well supported by donors who share that commitment.

READY BY 21 - A CALL TO ACTION
http://www.readyby21.org/what-ready-21
From the web site: "Ready by 21® is a set of innovative strategies developed by the Forum for Youth Investment that helps communities improve the odds that all children and youth will be ready for college, work and life."

RECONNECTING YOUTH PROJECT - EVIDENCE GAP MAP
https://reconnectingyouth.mdrc.org/
From the website: "The Reconnecting Youth Project aims to systematically understand what programs and practices are  operating in the United States to support these young people, often referred to as 'disconnected youth' or 'opportunity youth'.  The site hosts a "Compendium of Programs", which is a searchable database that provides summary information about 78 programs serving young people who are disconnected.  It also hosts an "Evidence Gap Map' which is a collection of 60 studies about programs serving young people who are disconnected."

REDUCING HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT RATE THROUGH EMPLOYER STUDENT/MENTOR PROGRAM
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED376406
This 1994 report still includes ideas that can be used to support youth tutoring and/or mentoring programs that engage business volunteers and aim to help keep youth in school and moving toward jobs and careers

ROCA - DISRUPTS CYCLE OF INCARCERATION AND POVERTY (BOSTON)
https://rocainc.org/how-we-do-it/our-intervention-model/
From the web site: "Roca's mission is to disrupt the cycle of incarceration and poverty by helping young people transform their lives.  Roca's Theory of Change is that young people, when re-engaged through positive and intensive relationships, can change their behaviors and develop life, education, and employment skills to disrupt the cycles of poverty and incarceration."

SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE - ACLU WEB SITE
https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline/school-prison-pipeline?redirect=feature/school-prison-pipeline
From the web site: "The ACLU is committed to challenging the "school to prison pipeline," a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services. Instead, they are isolated, punished and pushed out."  This is one of many issue areas the ACLU focuses on. Visit the web site to learn more.

THE EISENHOWER FOUNDATION - REPLICATING, EVALUATING AND COMMUNICATING WHAT WORKS RESTORING AMERICA’S PROMISE
http://www.eisenhowerfoundation.org/replicating
From the web site: "The Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation is the international, nonprofit continuation of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Riot Commission, after the big city riots of the 1960s) and the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (the National Violence Commission, after the assassinations of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy). The Foundation identifies, funds, evaluates, builds the capacities of and replicates multiple solution ventures for the inner city, the truly disadvantaged, children, youth and families. Through national policy reports, the Foundation communicates what works (and what doesn't) to citizens, media and decision makers. The Foundation also runs a strategic communications school for nonprofit organization staff and youth to help change political will and create action."

THE HIGH SCHOOL DROP-OUT EPIDEMIC VS BENEFITS OF COLLEGE EDUCATION
http://www.collegescholarships.org/blog/2013/03/24/solving-the-high-school-drop-out-epidemic/
This article provides a list of resources for learning more about the dropout crisis and for getting involved in actions that help youth move to college and careers.

THE MIDDLE SCHOOL ARCHIVE PROJECT - DALLAS, TX
https://schooltimecapsule.blogspot.com/
From the web site: "The best dropout prevention is for students to focus on their own story, their own future. The School Archive Project does that with a 10-year time-capsule and class-reunion plan designed to provide students one record of their story combined with a physical connection to their future. The goal is to help students visualize their story and better understand their natural ability to make the differences they want in their own lives through work.The best dropout prevention is for students to focus on their own story, their own future. The School Archive Project does that with a 10-year time-capsule and class-reunion plan designed to provide students one record of their story combined with a physical connection to their future. The goal is to help students visualize their story and better understand their natural ability to make the differences they want in their own lives through work.

$100 MILLION UPMC COMMITMENT TO FUND HS GRADS VIA PITTSBURGH PROMISE
https://pittsburghpromise.org/
From the web site: "In 2007, UPMC announced a $100 million commitment to help students graduating from Pittsburgh Public Schools further their education after high school. Developed by the city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Public Schools, The Pittsburgh Promise is designed to give graduates of Pittsburgh’s public high schools the means to pursue postsecondary education, regardless of family income, at an accredited post secondary institution in Pennsylvania. Read more at https://www.upmc.com/about/community-commitment/pittsburgh-promise

1.3 MILLION HOMELESS STUDENTS IN US - 2019 REPORT
click here
From the web site: "This is the latest article in The 74’s ongoing ‘Big Picture’ series, bringing American education into sharper focus through new research and data. This article shows that More than 1.3 million public school students experienced homelessness during the 2016-17 school year, a 7 percent increase over three years ago and the largest number ever recorded. Over the past decade, the population of students experiencing homelessness has spiked by a startling 70 percent."

21ST CENTURY SKILLS EVERY STUDENT NEEDS - 2017 ARTICLE
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/21st-century-skills-future-jobs-students
The graphics and charts in this World Economic Forum article provide a clear list of skills and habits that need to be learned by students and adults.

99 PROBLEMS FACING HIGHER ED - 2018 SALON.COM ARTICLE
click here
This article begins as a commentary about media coverage of "left-wing" college student protests. Then it provides a list of 99 issues that it feels are more important to talk about, starting with Tuition,  Student Loan Debt, Housing Costs\ and Hunger. Each topic is linked to an article, which makes this a valuable resource for anyone researching this issue. 

A BETTER CHICAGO - STATE OF OUR YOUTH 2025 REPORT
https://www.abetterchicago.org/reports-and-insights/state-of-our-youth-2025
This 2025 report provides extensive data showing the "Sate of Chicago Youth" and should be read by all who are concerned with the future of the city.  In the summary the authors wrote "Chicago is among the major cities that continues to experience uneven investments and development across neighborhoods, resulting in inadequate access to essential services and disparities in economic, education and health outcomes. The data in this report reveals how these historical patterns continue to have a disproportionate negative impact on communities of color."  Download the report from the A Better Chicago website.

A NEW APPROACH: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF EDUCATION (2020 ARTICLE)
https://medium.com/rs21/social-determinants-of-education-covid-19-and-responding-to-student-needs-42cf9efb2a0
In the health care field the concept of "Social Determinants of Health" has been conceptualized as a broader framework for understanding and addressing health issues.  In this article RS21 outlines the concept of "Social Determinants of Education" and talks about a comprehensive data dashboard that can help school systems understand and address short and long- term issues related to student outcomes.

ADDRESING SOCIAL DETERMINANTS TO ENSURE ON-TIME GRADUATION (2016 ARTICLE)
https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/%202017/01/13/social-determinants-and-graduation
From the article "This policy statement addresses the social determinants that affect on-time  high school graduation. Educational attainment is a leading social determinant of health (and economic viability), yet analyses of place-based statistics indicate that other social determinants such as housing and employment, food security, access to health care, neighborhood and built environment characteristics, and violence are also significant factors in on-time graduation rates."  Read more.

AN UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF LEARNING (TM)
https://journals.lww.com/neponline/Fulltext/2021/07000/Developing_a_Social_Determinants_of_Learning_3.aspx?WT.mc_id=HPxADx20100319xMP
From the article: "the aim of this study was to propose a framework, social determinants of learning (TM), an actionable model to address learning disparities and expand learning opportunities to support nursing student diversity, equity, and inclusion."  Read this along with the Social Determinants of Education articles.

2015 ARTICLE ABOUT SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF EDUCATION 
https://www.youngedprofessionals.org/yep-dc-recess-blog/the-social-determinants-of-education
Think of all the factors that influence a child during her lifetime that influence student learning and success in the adult world and the workforce. Read this article to help understand the concept of "Social Determinants of Education". 

A GENERATION OF SCHOOL CLOSINGS IN CHICAGO - WBEZ 2018 ARTICLE
https://interactive.wbez.org/generation-school-closings/?
This article leads of with "In the time it has taken for a child to grow up in Chicago, city leaders have either closed or radically shaken up some 200 public schools — nearly a third of the entire district — a comprehensive new tally by WBEZ finds. These decisions, defended as the best and only way to improve chronically low-performing schools or deal with serious under-enrollment, have meant 70,160 children — the vast majority of them black — have seen their schools closed or all staff in them fired.   That's more than all of the students and schools in Boston." Take some time to read it. 

A NATION AT RISK - AFTER 25 YEARS. ON EPI SITE.
https://www.epi.org/publication/webfeatures_viewpoints_nation_at_risk_25/
The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington D.C. think tank, was created in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers. Today, with global competition expanding, wage inequality rising, and the methods and nature of work changing in fundamental ways, it is as crucial as ever that people who work for a living have a voice in the economic discourse.

The article we're pointing to was written by Richard Rothstein and EPI associate. The full text is at  http://www.cato-unbound.org/2008/04/07/richard-rothstein/a-nation-at-risk-twenty-five-years-later/  
This site is full of articles like this so add it to your reading list.

A NEW DAY FOR LEARNING
https://www.edutopia.org/new-day-for-learning-two
From the article: In Edutopia's "New Day for Learning initiative, we dig even deeper to highlight four full-time-learning* programs that share common elements for success: project learning, community connections, and curriculum building." This series includes four different models with quite a bit of related information." While this is from 2008 the ideas are still relevant. 

ACADEMIC, SOCIAL, AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING (CASEL)
https://casel.org/
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) focuses on the social and emotional learning (SEL) needs of children and youth and shows school-family partnerships that attempt to address these needs

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH (AIR) - P-12 EDUCATION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
https://www.air.org/our-work/education
From the web site: "We help children and youth do better in the classroom and in life by supporting educators and social service professionals, families and students, leaders and policymakers, to identify effective education programs and resources; to develop policies and services that promote well-being; and ultimately, to translate evidence into action. We work within and foster collaboration across systems—mental health/substance abuse, juvenile justice, child welfare, health, and education—strengthening their capacity to use evidence–based strategies.  AIR’s merger with Learning Point Associates in 2010 demonstrates its ongoing commitment to education research, evaluation, and technical assistance."

AMERICA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS HIGHLY SEGREGATED - SEE MAPS
https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/americas-public-schools-remain-highly-segregated
These maps in this article show that America’s public schools are still highly segregated by race and income, with the declining share of white students typically concentrated in schools with other white students and the growing share of Latino students concentrated into low-income public schools with other students of color.

ANNENBERG INSTITUTE - KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY
https://www.annenberginstitute.org/topics/accountability
From the web site: "In pursuit of more just and flourishing societies, the Annenberg Institute seeks to integrate and expand the range of work at Brown, re-envisioning how universities can enrich educational systems for the benefit of children and youth. The Institute strives to equalize and improve educational opportunities. By bringing together diverse thinkers to tackle difficult problems, the Institute advances the broader field: harnessing the power of Brown’s community to develop education leaders, building actionable knowledge through systematic research, partnering with educators and policy-makers for local impact, and encouraging robust civic discourse."  This link points to an extensive library of research articles.

BEST EDUCATION PRACTICES CLEARINGHOUSE IS ONLINE MANUAL OF WHAT WORKS WITH TRIO AND GEAR UP STUDENTS
https://besteducationpractices.squarespace.com/
From the website: "We are the first group of federally-funded programs to create our own best practices clearinghouse. Rather than relying on practices developed by others, we created an online program manual of what works with our TRIO and GEAR UP students."

BEYOND THE SCHOOL BUILDING:  EXAMINING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OUT-OF-SCHOOL FACTORS AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCHOOL GRADES (2024)
https://epaa.asu.edu/index.php/epaa/article/view/8497
Research by Nandrea Burrell and Erica Harbatkin of Floriday State University examines impact of non-school factors beyond a schools locus of control on school performance grades.  As you read this research view the links in this article on the Tutor/Mentor blog. 

BRIDGES4KIDS - EXTENSIVE WEB LIBRARY
https://www.bridges4kids.org/About.html
From the web site: Bridges4Kids is "A non-profit parent organization providing an internet-based system of information and referral for parents and professionals working with children from birth through transition to adult life.  Bridges4Kids operates a comprehensive website providing parents, educators, and others the information they need to help children who might be at-risk or have special needs. It is updated daily and includes information on child development, education issues and opportunities, and extensive disability, gifted, at-risk, parenting, and teaching resources. Choose the "search" function on our menu to search the entire site for the information you need."

BRINGING TOGETHER RESOURCES STUDENTS NEED TO LEARN - BLOG
click here
This article from the Community Works Institute (CWI)  blog talks about the social emotional needs of students and how two researchers are trying to address this.

BROADER, BOLDER APPROACH TO EDUCATION
http://www.boldapproach.org/
From the web site: "The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education is a national campaign that advances evidence-based strategies to mitigate the impacts of poverty-related disadvantages on teaching and learning. We work with diverse communities to elevate examples of comprehensive approaches to education so that our public school system ensures every child an excellent and equitable education". 

BUILDING A NEW STRUCTURE FOR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/08/05/building-new-structure-school-leadership
From the web site: This 2008 article is "Based on the essay "Building a New Structure for School Leadership," from Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Richard Elmore's book, School Reform from the Inside Out: Policy, Practice, and Performance (Harvard Education Press, 2004)."

BUILDING A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM OF STUDENT LEARNING SUPPORTS - 2023 UCLA CENTER PDF
https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/briefguide.pdf
Poverty is increasing in the United States.  UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools asks "What role will schools choose to play in efforts to enhance equity of opportunity so that these children can succeed in school and beyond?"  This PDF shows a comprehensive plan for building student/learning supports.  

CALIFORNIA UNDERPERFORMING SCHOOLS - 2010 REPORT
click here
This report illustrates how the there are "vast disparities in achievement, particularly among chronically underperforming schools serving thousands of Latinos, African-Americans, and English learners" in California, as well as Illinois and other states.

CARNEGIE FOUNDATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING - SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT RESOURCES
https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/
From the web site: "Carnegie advocates for the use of improvement science to accelerate how a field learns to improve. Improvement science deploys rapid tests of change to guide the development, revision and continued fine-tuning of new tools, processes, work roles and relationships. Improvement science is explicitly designed to accelerate learning-by-doing. It's a more user-centered and problem-centered approached to improving teaching and learning.

CARNEGIE MATH PATHWAYS
https://carnegiemathpathways.org/
From the web site: Mission  is "Empowering ALL students to reach their college and career goals by transforming their mathematics learning experience."  Supports a "network of faculty members, researchers, designers, students, and content experts to create a new system to increase student success in developmental mathematics." 

CENSUS 2000 SCHOOL DISTRICT SPECIAL TABULATION - PROXIMITYONE
http://www.proximityone.com/childrens_demographics/guide/
From the ProximityOne web site - "We develop, provide access to, and analyze "resources to create and apply insight." Our geographic-demographic-economic data and analytical tools can help you knit together and use diverse data in a decision-making and analytical framework. Our demographic-economic estimates and projections can help you better understand the current situation/area characteristics and how areas of interest might change in the future. We offer geocoding tools and services to geocode address data that can then be visually analyzed in maps and otherwise to facilitate impact and geospatial analyses." This link points to a page with data mainly focused on the Census 2000 School District Special Tabulation data.

CENTER FOR SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS (CSOS) AT JOHNS HOPKINS U
https://education.jhu.edu/csos/
From the web site: Founded more than 50 years ago at Johns Hopkins University, the Center for Social Organization of Schools, now part of the Johns Hopkins School of Education, concentrates its considerable research and development resources on improving low-performing schools and the education they offer their students.".

CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DATA SOURCES - GOOGLE DOC
click here
This Google doc is a listing of resources shared by The Chicago Public Education Fund at at May 2018 Chicago City Data User Group meeting.

CHRONIC SCHOOL ABSENCE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES - INTERACTIVE MAP
https://www.hamiltonproject.org/charts/chronic_absence_across_the_united_states
With this interactive resource you can zoom into the state, city and individual school level to see chronic school attendance rates. Use for understanding problem and focusing on solutions. This article shows how to use the map: https://tinyurl.com/The74-ChronicAttendanceMap

CLOSING THE BLACK-WHITE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
https://www.epi.org/publication/books_class_and_schools/
Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap  by Richard Rothstein . In his preface for the book, Lawrence Mishel, President, Economic Policy Institute, writes, "In this book, Richard Rothstein asks us to view the black-white and low- to middle-income achievement gaps with a wider lens. His revealing and persuasive analysis of how social class shapes learning outcomes forces us to look at the differences in learning styles and readiness across students as they enter school for the first time. Further, he prods us to consider the influence of income, health, safety and other gaps affecting students as they proceed through school."

COALITION OF ESSENTIAL SCHOOLS - BENCHMARKS
http://essentialschools.org/benchmarks/
From the web site: "The CES School Benchmarks are designed to address the challenge of helping schools translate the Coalition’s guiding tenets, the Common Principles, into practice by describing what the work of the Coalition “looks like.” The benchmarks are divided into two categories—Classroom Practices and Organizational Practices. Classroom Practices are focused on instruction and address the question “What does a CES classroom look like?” by sharing how each practice is reflected in teacher work and student outcomes. Organizational Practices are those school-wide practices that support and enable the Classroom Practices."

COLLEGE BOARD - ADVOCACY & RESEARCH
https://www.collegeboard.org/advocacy
The goal of this College Board initiative is that "All students should have access to an affordable and successful college experience. We offer recommendations to improve and simplify the financial aid system so that enrollment and full participation in college is possible for all students."

COLLEGE-GOING GAP BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE AMERICANS WAS ALWAYS BAD. IT'S GETTING WORSE.  2023 USA TODAY ARTICLE
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/05/15/college-student-gap-between-black-white-americans-worse/70195689007/
This in-depth article shows college attendance and graduation challenges facing minority youth from high poverty areas.  


COLLEGE ISN’T A CURE FOR THE US's RACIAL WEALTH GAP - 2018 ARTICLE
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/college-isn-t-a-cure-for-the-racial-wealth-gap
This article from the World Economic Forum talks about a 2017 study, published in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, in which researchers decided to dig deeper into the question of how much impact college has on closing the racial wealth gap, and determined that over time, that college degrees contribute to wealth accumulation for white graduates—but not black graduates.  Read the article. 

COMMON GOOD FORCASTER - EXPLORE HOW EDUCATION AFFECTS US ALL.
https://measureofamerica.org/forecaster/
Use this interactive web site to explore how education affects us all. This is a very cool web site.

COVID19 IS HAVING DEVASTATING IMPACT ON CHILDREN - DEC. 2020 ARTICLE
click here
This NBC News article talks about the negative impact Covid19 has had on children and how it may continue well into the future.  

CRACKS IN THE EDUCATION PIPELINE
click here
From the publication: "We can no longer afford the inequities that have long characterized our system of education. According to Charles E.M. Kolb, the pipeline isn't just leaking; it is gushing.   As our need for educated workers grows, the American workforce is going to come increasingly from the ethnic groups that have been least well served at all levels of American education. By 2020, some 30 percent of our working-age population will be African-American or Hispanic, nearly double the percentage in 1980. And for these students, writes Charles E.M. Kolb, the pipeline isn't just leaking; it is gushing. With their eyes on the global competition, America's business leaders may be uniquely positioned to appreciate the urgency of the current situation. It is, thus, incumbent upon them to make the case to politicians and the public for systemic higher education reform -- for the investments necessary to ensure that (1) more students receive better preparation for higher education, (2) institutions of higher education are affordable, particularly for disadvantaged students, (3) colleges and universities have the commitment and capacity to educate all students who are motivated and eligible to attend, and (4) financial and academic support is provided to help students graduate.

CRITICAL THINKING: HOW DO WE TEACH IT?
https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2019/2/28/can-we-teach-critical-thinking
This is an article by by Althea Need Kaminske , from 2019.

DANA CENTER AT UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS WORKS TO IMPROVE EDUCATION
https://www.utdanacenter.org/who-we-are
From the web site:  "The Dana Center collaborates with local and national entities to improve education systems so that they foster opportunity for all students, particularly in mathematics and science. We are dedicated to nurturing students' intellectual passions and ensuring that every student leaves school prepared for success in postsecondary education and the contemporary workplace—and for active participation in our modern democracy."

DATA POINTS: BLACK STUDENTS DECLINING AT CHICAGO'S TOP PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS AND IN CPS OVERALL
click here
2018 Metropolitan Chicago Planning Council report shows decline of African American students at top schools and throughout the entire system. 

DEEPER LEARNING - WHAT IS THIS?
https://hewlett.org/library/deeper-learning-advocacy-cluster-evaluation/
From the web site: "The Hewlett Foundation seeks to help student compete globally and become engaged citizens at home. To that end, we work to align K-12 schools in the U.S. to deliver and measure deeper learning—a set of six interrelated competencies: mastering rigorous academic content, learning how to think critically and solve problems, working collaboratively, communicating effectively, directing one’s own learning, and developing an academic mindsets — a belief in one’s ability to grow."

DEFINING THE SKILLS CITIZENS WILL NEED IN THE FUTURE WORLD OF WORK (2021 ARTICLE)
click here
From the website: "Research by McKinsey Global Research identified a set of 56 foundational skills that will benefit all citizens and showed that higher proficiency in them is already associated with a higher likelihood of employment, higher incomes, and job satisfaction." The article describes the research and the foundational skills and offers recommendations.  


DIFFERENT TYPES OF SCHOOLS: PUBLIC, CHARTER, PRIVATE, INDEPENDENT, ETC.
click here
This article provides a brief description and differentiation between different types of k-12 schools serving more than 52 million US students a year.

DIGITAL EDUCATION AFTER COVID-19 - PDF
http://der.monash.edu/lnm/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/TECHLASH-01-COVID-education.pdf
This PDF focuses on issues of digital education and learning that need to be discussed as the world focuses on a post Covid-19 future.  Will education technology companies and business interests dominate or will school leaders, parents and policymakers join together to re-imagine the future of learning and the social benefits of education systems. This is from the Digital Education Research (DER) department at Monash University in Australia. 

DIGITAL PROMISE RESEARCH MAP
https://researchmap.digitalpromise.org/
One of the resources on this site is a huge library of research and ideas that anyone can use to build better programs to help young people.  The site uses innovative visualizations to help people navigate the information on the site. Take a look. 

DIGITAL REDLINING - LIMITING OF LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/digital-redlining-access-and-privacy
Just as housing redlining restricted lending and where people of color lived in US cities, digital redlining is restricting what youth from low-income backgrounds, and those who attend community colleges in America. Read the article and build your understanding of this issue.

DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE - A POTENTIAL GAME CHANGER FOR CHILDREN - 2023 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ARTICLE 
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/digital-public-infrastructure-is-a-gamechanger-for-children/
This article talks about  how "using digital technologies to create a digital public infrastructure can help us create a society where all children are included and have agency, opportunity and their rights fulfilled, without discrimination."  Read more. 

DISSECTING THE SOARING GRADUATION RATE FOR BLACK BOYS IN CHICAGO
https://interactive.wbez.org/2019/graduation-rates/
Chicago Public Schools boast growing graduation rates, but are these numbers totally true? This 2019 WEBZ article looks deeper at the graduation rates for Black Boys in Chicago. 

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION - RESOURCE FOR SCHOOL LEADERS
https://districtadministration.com/
From the web site: "District Administration, (DA), is the most widely received and most regularly read publication for school district leaders nationwide in print and digital publishing." 

ECONOMIC SEGREGATION RISING IN US PUBLIC SCHOOLS
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2010/0527/Economic-segregation-rising-in-US-public-schools
From the web site: "The share of public schools with high concentrations of poor students jumped from 12 to 17 percent in eight years, a federal report shows. Economic segregation is tied to the persistent achievement gap." 

EDGAP.ORG MAP SHOWS ACT SCORES AND POVERTY LEVELS FOR 19 CITIES
https://www.edgap.org/#11/41.8340/-87.7322
From the web site: "This map is a visualization of average high-school SAT and ACT scores and median household income. Each circle on the map is a high school with at least 150 students, and the size and color of the circle give information about the average college-readiness scores at this school. The circles change from red to green and increase in size as scores go up; the blue background gets darker with increasing household income. Students are not considered college ready until they have ACT scores of about 21 or higher and/or SAT scores of about 1000 or higher."

EDUCATING ALL LEARNERS ALLIANCE - FOCUS ON STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
https://educatingalllearners.org/
From the website: "Coronavirus is posing unprecedented challenges to public schools around the country. To help ensure the continuity of special education services during remote instruction and to spotlight best practice approaches for schools and educators, an alliance of national education organizations has come together to ensure equity for all learners."  Created in 2020.  

EDUCATION AND POVERTY: WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT POVERTY HAMPERS EDUCATION"
click here
The title of this article is "To Help Disadvantaged Children Learn, We must Acknowledge that Poverty Hampers Education." Written by Helen F. Ladd, a professor of economics at Duke University. 

EDUCATION ATTAINMENT OECD REPORT - 2013
click here
This report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)provides a wealth of data that can be used to understand education levels in the US and other countries.

EDUCATION CAN'T SOLVE POVERTY—SO WHY DO WE KEEP INSISTING THAT IT CAN?
https://www.alternet.org/2017/09/education-cant-solve-poverty/
Interview with Harvey Kantor, starts with "Wages are down and unions are weaker than ever, but still the myth that education can fix poverty persists." Worth listening to. Text is included.

EDUCATION DATA WEB SITE - U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - ARCHIVE
https://www.ed.gov/open/plan/data-ed-gov
From the web site: "Data.ed.gov is part of the Department of Education's (ED) Open Government initiative to make high-value data sets publicly available in user-friendly, machine-readable formats. Data.ed.gov organizes, makes accessible, and highlights data from ED's diverse set of programs. It will serve as a one-stop shop for education data, allowing practitioners, researchers, and the public to access data that can inform their work in classrooms and communities across America."

EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER, INC. - EXPANDING ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION
https://www.edc.org/our-work
From the web site: "EDC's work around the world achieves sustainable impact; promotes research-based interventions;  designs effective digital technology;  builds scalable solutions and more to open doors to education, employment, and healthier lives for millions of individuals." Browse the site to learn more.

EDUCATION FOR ALL - EDUCATION ISSUES AND STATISTICS THROUGHOUT WORLD
http://visualdata.dw.com/specials/bildung/en/
This German based web site contains several sub sections with information about education attainment and access for every country in the world.

EDUCATION IS OVER (DUE TO 2020 PANDEMIC) - OPINION
https://medium.com/regenerative-global/education-is-over-8b9d57502b2c
The author of this article, William Rankin, suggests that the "education system" of the past 50 years, never worked, and now due to the Covid19 pandemic, has the opportunity to be completely re-imagined. Take a look. 

EDUCATION NORTHWEST - RESEARCH BASED SOLUTIONS
https://educationnorthwest.org/
From the web site: "Our mission is to improve learning by building capacity in schools, families, and communities through applied research and development.  Chartered in 1966 as Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Education Northwest now conducts nearly 200 projects annually, working with schools, districts, and communities across the country on comprehensive, research-based solutions to the challenges they face."

EDUCATION POLICY INSTITUTE (EPI)
https://educationalpolicy.org/about/
From the web site: "At the Educational Policy Institute, our focus is simple: work diligently and in close partnership with our clients to ensure that the best and most useful outcomes are made possible. We have specialized expertise in policy analysis, program evaluation, and research design. EPI has worked with hundreds of institutions and organizations over the years to help them improve practices and policies. We are committed to data-driven, research-based practices and the highest levels of professionalism."

EDUCATION TRUST (THE) - CLOSING ACHIEVEMENT GAP
https://edtrust.org/
From the web site: "The Education Trust promotes high academic achievement for all students at all levels — pre-kindergarten through college. Our goal is to close the gaps in opportunity and achievement that consign far too many young people — especially those from low-income families or who are Black, Latino, or American Indian — to lives on the margins of the American mainstream."

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY NOT LEVELING PLAYING FIELD
https://hechingerreport.org/educational-technology-isnt-leveling-playing-field/
This article illustrates how important mentors, coaches and extra adults are to how young people use technology for learning. 

EDUCATIONALIZING THE WELFARE STATE AND PRIVATIZING EDUCATION: THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL POLICY SINCE THE NEW DEAL
click here
This paper by Harvey Kantor and Robert Lowe starts with this statement "BELIEF IN THE capacity of public education to redress unequal opportunity and eliminate poverty is one of the most distinctive features of American social policy. It is especially evident in No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which has invoked an equality-of-results test of public school performance that neglects conditions inside and outside the schools that contribute to inequality." The paper looks at how this belief developed since the 1960s.

EDUCAUSE - RESEARCH INCLUDES NMC (NEW MEDIA CONSORTIUM)
click here
From the web site:  "EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology.  EDUCAUSE helps those who lead, manage, and use information technology to shape strategic decisions at every level. EDUCAUSE actively engages with colleges and universities, corporations, foundations, government, and other nonprofit organizations to further the mission of transforming higher education through the use of information technology."

EDUTOPIA NEWS - CORE STRATEGIES FOR INNOVATION AND REFORM IN LEARNING
https://www.edutopia.org/about/core-strategies
From the web site: "Edutopia, a project of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, is dedicated to transforming the learning process by helping educators implement the strategies below. These strategies -- and the educators who implement them -- are empowering students to think critically, access and analyze information, creatively problem solve, work collaboratively, and communicate with clarity and impact." 

EXPANDING THE SYSTEM OF LEARNING SUPPORTS PDF
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/systemic/frameworksforsystemictransformation.pdf
Re: Frameworks for Transforming How Schools Offer Student and Learning Supports. Howard Adelman & Linda Taylor at the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA have been receiving requests for a compilation of the frameworks they have developed with respect to the systemic transformation of student and learning supports. So, they have developed a new resource aid that (1) highlights four fundamental, systemic concerns related to transforming student and learning supports and (2) offers frameworks for addressing them.

FORDHAM INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION EXCELLENCE - RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
https://fordhaminstitute.org/
From the web site: "The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and its affiliated Foundation promote educational excellence for every child in America by focusing on three policy areas: High Expectations, Quality Choices, and Personalized Pathways. We believe that all schools that are supported with public funds should be held accountable for helping their students make academic progress from year to year; that all parents deserve to have a range of high-quality options, as well as reliable information with which to make the best choice for their children; and that students have a variety of needs, interests, and ambitions, so our K–12 education system ought to reflect this."

FORDHAM INSTITUTE  -  EXPLAINING ACHIEVEMENT GAPS:  THE ROLE OF SOCIAOECONOMIC FACTORS - 2024 RESEARCH
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/explaining-achievement-gaps-role-socioeconomic-factors
The research looks at racial achievement gaps in schools and changes over the past 20 years.  The introduction starts with "Racial achievement gaps in schools are well documented and remain a significant cause of concern in education. Troubling too is that the role of socioeconomic disparities in mediating these gaps remain unresolved."

GATEWAY TO COLLEGE - BLOG
https://gatewaytocollege.org/blog/
From the web site: "Gateway to College National Network supports communities in building sustainable pathways for disconnected youth (former high school dropouts) to a high school diploma and a meaningful college credential."  Merged with Achieving the Dream in 2019.

GETTING SMART - NEW PATHWAYS FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS
https://www.gettingsmart.com/
From the website: "The #NewPathways campaign is a road map for American schools, where every learner, regardless of zip code, is on a pathway to productive citizenship, high wage employment and economic mobility, and a purpose-driven life."  Browse the website to see how these goals are being achieved. 

GOALS OF EDUCATION - NOT JUST TEST SCORES - PDF
https://files.ascd.org/staticfiles/ascd/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200905_rothstein.pdf
"Measuring Social Responsibility" challenges educators and policy makers to think beyond test scores as they look for accountability in education.   Read the article by Richard Rothstein and Rebecca Jacobsen. 

GREAT SCHOOLS WEB SITE SHOWS SCHOOL PERFORMANCE INFO
https://www.greatschools.org/
From the web site: "GreatSchools is the leading national nonprofit empowering parents to unlock educational opportunities for their child.  GreatSchools’ trusted ratings and school information help parents find the right school for their family and improve schools in their communities. The thousands of articles, tips and interactive tools help parents support their child’s learning and wellbeing every day.  Families, community leaders and policy-makers turn to GreatSchools for the school information they need to guide children to great futures."

HAS HIGHER EDUCATION BECOME AN ENGINE OF INEQUALITY
https://www.chronicle.com/article/has-higher-education-become-an-engine-of-inequality/
This Chronicle of Higher Education page hosts a set of articles and opinions on this topic.

HOTEL (HOLISTIC APPROACH TO TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED LEARNING)
http://hotel-project.eu/The_Innovation_model
From the web site: "The HoTEL (Holistic Approach to Technology Enhanced Learning) project originates from the observation that most of the TEL research so far has concentrated mainly on the development of ad hoc technologies for learning, failing to capture both the potential adoption of emerging technologies not originally designed for learning in education and training environments and the innovative use that is made of technologies in non-formal and informal ways of learning and the extent to which this could be transferred/adapted to formal learning environments.

HOW 20 YEARS OF EDUCATION REFORM HAS CREATED GREATER INEQUALITY (IN THE USA) - SSIR ARTICLE
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/how_20_years_of_education_reform_has_created_greater_inequality
This 2020 article describes "how standardized testing, gentrification, school choice, and economic downturn since the late 1990s have widened inequality to create an existential threat to democracy." It ends with suggestions of "What we can do.". Written by Michael A. Seelig. EdD, education policy director and senior advisor to the president of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.  

HUMAN RESTORATION PROJECT - RESTORING HUMANITY TO EDUCATION
https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/
From the website: "The Human Restoration Project (HRP) is a non-profit organization (501(c)3 status pending) aimed at transforming school systems, restoring students as human beings rather than a vessel for standards. Led by educators Chris McNutt and Nick Covington, HRP provides free school resources, conferences, podcasts, writings, and various materials geared toward changing mindsets in education."   "The Human Restoration Project defines progressive education as a series of systems, not strategies."  On the home page of this website you can read about 15 systems they feel need to change.   
Check out the research database on this site: https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/research

ILLINOIS EARLY LEARNING PROJECT WEB SITE
https://illinoisearlylearning.org/
From the web site: "The Illinois Early Learning Project Web site is a source of evidence-based, reliable information on early care and education for parents, caregivers, and teachers of young children in Illinois."

INFLUENCE OF RELIGION UPON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF YOUTH IN DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES - PDF
http://www.baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/ISR-Making-Grade_071.pdf
This 2001 report is titled:  "Making the Grade: The Influence of Religion Upon the Academic Performance of Youth in Disadvantaged Communities*"   The information is as relevant today as when the report was written. 

INFORMATION AND RESOURCES TO THE PARENTS AND EDUCATORS - ADLIT.ORG
https://www.adlit.org/about
From the web site: "Many of the nation's top education researchers have launched new studies into topics such as how best to teach reading in the academic content areas, how best to teach writing at the high-school level, and how best to support the literacy development of adolescent English language learners.  AdLit.org's mission is to distill this literacy research and share best-practice information to as many people as possible through the power and reach of the Internet.

INNOVATIVE K-12 SCHOOLS - THE CANOPY PROJECT
https://canopyschools.transcendeducation.org/research
From the website: "All across the country, novel and unconventional approaches to learning are making a difference for students. But where are they, and what impact are they making? Whether you’re a local school leader or national supporter of education, it can be hard to find schools to learn from, especially outside of your own network. The Canopy project launched in 2019 with the goal of building collective knowledge on a more diverse set of innovative schools across the country." View research and collected insights at this link. 

INSIDE HIGHER EDUCATION - ARTICLES SUCH AS DIGITAL LEARNING
https://www.insidehighered.com/transforming-teaching-and-learning
From the website: "Inside Higher Ed  mission is to serve all of higher education - individuals, institutions, corporations and non-profits - so they can do their jobs better, transforming their lives and those of the students they serve. "  This link points to a set of articles about digital learning.

INSIDE SCHOOL DATA - IMPACT OF BILLIONAIRES
click here
From the web site: "iWatch News analyzed performance data from 10 urban school districts  that received significant funding from the four billionaire  philanthropists seeking to reform education. The computer analysis  examined how graduation rates changed between 2002 and 2007—the most  recent years for which the data is available from the nationally  recognized Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. This Back to School for Billionaires article was written based on this IWatch News data.

INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP (IEL) - LEADS COALITION FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
https://iel.org/resources/
From the web site: "The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) - a non-profit,  nonpartisan organization based in Washington, DC IEL leads the Coalition for Community Schools, an umbrella group of more than 200 local, state, and national partners that advocate for more coordinated, efficient, and effective delivery of opportunities and supports to students before, during, and after school and on weekends. IEL is connecting community with public education to support the learning and development of young people.  

INTEGRATION OF SCHOOLS BASED ON CLASS INSTEAD OF RACE - ARTICLE
click here
This NPR article discusses trends in school integration based on economic diversity rather than racial and shows benefits of both.

INVESTING IN SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL LEARNING
https://scefdn.org/#!our-work
From the web site: "SCE is invested in shaping an ecosystem of anytime, anywhere, 21st century learning to prepare youth to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing and highly connected world. Through three primary programs—digital learning, social and emotional learning, and our catalyst grants—SCE connects talent and innovation with forces for positive change."

K–12 EDUCATION’S TOP TECH HURDLES TO INNOVATION
https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2019/11/k-12-educations-top-tech-hurdles-innovation
This article in K-12 Education web site starts by saying "A recent report from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) identified five key roadblocks for K–12 schools’ digital transformation in 2020. Two of the top hurdles are the gap between technology and learning techniques, and a lack of foresight in considering how technologies on the horizon will impact teaching, learning and the world that awaits students after graduation. Three other barriers — scaling and sustaining innovation; instituting ongoing professional technology training; and digital equity — are related to these top hurdles.'  Click the link and read the full report.

KNOWLEDGE ALLIANCE - PROMOTING USE OF RIGOROUS RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION POLICY
https://www.knowledgeall.net/
From the website: "The mission is to collectively elevate the creation and use of rigorous research and evidence for systems change, sustainable resources, equitable public education and access to opportunity for all." Follow their updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/knowledge-alliance/posts/

KNOWLEDGE WORKS FOUNDATION
https://knowledgeworks.org/policy/
From the web site: "As a leader in Strategic Foresight and educational transformation, KnowledgeWorks informs thought leaders and policymakers about the responsive policy environments that will ensure every student experiences meaningful personalized learning to succeed in college, career and life."

LUMIAR SCHOOLS - TRANSFORM THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION
https://lumiar.co/
From the website: "The Lumiar Methodology was created in 2003 by a group of avant-garde educators, who developed it as an initiative to transform education in the world. The first school was born in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and today the method is present in several schools, public and private, in Brazil, England, Nigeria, India, among others."  

Note: I learned about this in this TED talk by Ricardo Semler.

LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD - EXTENDED LEARNING -PDF
http://vue.annenberginstitute.org/sites/default/files/issues/VUE16.pdf
Leveling the Playing Field: The Promise of Extended Learning Opportunities and Supports for Youth, By Heidi Harris Lemmel and Robert Rothman is one of several articles in this pdf about extending learning in the out-of-school-time hours.

LIVING & LEARNING IN POVERTY - ARTICLES & LINKS
http://livinglearninginpoverty.blogspot.com/
From the web site: "This site is dedicated to storing and exploring all available research and resources related to poverty as it impacts the lives of children and the learning of children."  The site has links to many related resources. Make it part of your research.

LOUISIANA'S PLAN FOR STUDENT & LEARNING SUPPORTS
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/summit2002/ladesigndocument.pdf
The Louisiana State Department of Education has just released its design prototype document that will guide its work across the state in supporting development of a Comprehensive Learning Supports System. The document can be accessed on the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools web site.

LOWER-INCOME PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT SCHOOL CLOSURES DUE TO COVID19
click here
This April 2020 article is titled "Lower-income parents most concerned about their children falling behind amid covid-19 school closures"  describes findings from a Pew Research Center Survey.

LUMINA FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION - GOAL 2025
https://www.luminafoundation.org/
From the web site:  "The mission of Lumina Foundation for Education is to expand access and success in education beyond high school, particularly among adults, first-generation college going students, low-income students and students of color. This mission is directed toward a single, overarching big goal – to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025." 

MAPPING EXISTING COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL RESOURCES
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/p2312_06.htm
This page is part of an extensive online resource center hosted by the UCLA Center for Mental Health in schools. It provides a list of resources and ideas for Mapping Existing School and Community Resources for Addressing Barriers to Learning.

MAPS SHOW "ISLAND (HIGH POVERTY)" SCHOOL DISTRICTS
https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-island-school-districts.html
This article shows "180 school districts across the country completely surrounded by a single larger district."  In most cases the "island" district has much higher rates of poverty, or affluence, than the surrounding area, contributing to inequality in education opportunities.

MASS INCARCERATION PUSHES BLACK CHILDREN FURTHER BEHIND IN SCHOOL
click here
This article in The Atlantic talks about a new 2017 study that "shows that the disproportionate imprisonment rates faced by people of color contribute to race-based inequalities in educational attainment."

MIDDLE GRADE INDICATORS OF READINESS IN CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
click here
From the web site: "Grades and attendance—not test scores—are the middle grade factors most strongly connected with both high school and college success.  In fact, grades and attendance matter more than test scores, race, poverty, or other background characteristics for later academic success.  This report follows approximately 20,000 Chicago Public Schools students as they transition from elementary to high school. It is designed to help answer questions about which markers should be used to gauge whether students are ready to succeed in high school and beyond. It also considers the performance levels students need to reach in middle school to have a reasonable chance of succeeding in high school."

MILLIONS LEARNING PROJECT - SCALING UP QUALITY LEARNING AROUND WORLD
click here
From the web site: "The Millions Learning project seeks to identify where and how education interventions are scaling quality learning for children and youth in low- and middle-income countries around the world."

ERIC – EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER
http://web.archive.org/web/20210421001314/https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/projects/eric.asp
From the website: ERIC is an internet-based digital library of education research and information sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC provides access to bibliographic records of journal and non-journal literature from 1966 to the present. ERIC's mission is to provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use, searchable Internet-based bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information for educators, researchers, and the general public.

NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR TRANSFORMING STUDENT AND LEARNING SUPPORTS - UCLA CENTER RESOURCE
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/newinitiative.html
From the web site: "The aim of this ongoing initiative is to mobilize direct actions for (a) elevating school improvement policy discussion about ending the marginalization of student and learning supports and (b) moving toward transformation of such supports."  The UCLA Center contains an extensive web library, hosts a national list serve, publishes an email newsletter, and more. Browse the site. 

OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN CAMPAIGN - RESOURCES
http://schottfoundation.org/our-work/otl-network
From the web site: "Schott’s Opportunity to Learn Network (OTL) unites a nationwide coalition of Schott grantees and allied organizations working to secure a high quality public education for all students.  By creating a space to highlight and celebrate grassroots organizing, share success stories and provide resources, OTL strives to create real and substantial change in our public education system."

OVERCOMING POVERTY CHALLENGE - EVERYONE GRADUATES REPORT
http://www.every1graduates.org/overcoming-poverty-challenge/
From the web site: "This white paper focuses on an important and under-conceptualized thread in the weave of efforts needed to ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and/or career training: enhanced student supports. It argues that in order to overcome the educational impacts of poverty – the poverty challenge, schools that serve high concentrations of low income students need to be able to provide direct, evidence-based supports that help students attend school regularly, act in a productive manner, believe they will succeed, overcome external obstacles, complete their coursework, and put forth the effort required to graduate college- and career-ready."

PARTNERSHIP FOR 21ST CENTURY LEARNING - A NETWORK OF BATTELLE FOR KIDS
https://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21
From the web site: "Battelle for Kids is a national not-for-profit organization committed to collaborating with school systems and communities to realize the power and promise of 21st century learning for every student." 

POVERTY, NOT EDUCATION, IS THE PROBLEM. USA REPORT
click here
This December 2013 report profiles "New studies show that the number of poor children is rising and the impact it has on learning."

PROMISE NEIGHBORHOOD PROGRAM - U.S. DEPT OF EDUCATION
https://www2.ed.gov/programs/promiseneighborhoods/index.html?exp=0
From the web site: "Promise Neighborhoods, established under the legislative authority of the Fund for the Improvement of Education Program (FIE), provides funding to support eligible entities, including (1) nonprofit organizations, which may include faith-based nonprofit organizations, (2) institutions of higher education, and (3) Indian tribes. The vision of the program is that all children and youth growing up in Promise Neighborhoods have access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career." Visit the site to learn more.

PUBLIC SCHOOL REVIEW - FIND INFO ABOUT PUBLIC SCHOOLS
https://www.publicschoolreview.com/about-us
From the web site: "Public School Review provides free, detailed profiles of USA public schools and their surrounding communities. The site evaluates schools relative to each other and to state-wide averages for several key criteria like teacher:student ratios. The site can be particularly helpful for families who are moving and need to evaluate several potential schools, or for all parents who are exploring different pre-college educational options for their child."  The site has sections for parents, policy information, and issues facing public schools.

PUSH FOR NEW EQUITY MEASURES IN EDUCATION – 2021 REPORT
https://www.future-ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FUTUREED_REPORT_EQUITY.pdf
This report looks at “expanding efforts to add to the education equation the myriad factors that research says contribute to student achievement.“

RACE AND THE SCHOOLING OF BLACK AMERICANS, 1992 ARTICLE
click here
This is an article I've had in my home library for many years. By adding it to my web library it's available to many others.  

RACE FOR RESULTS: BUILDING A PATH TO OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL CHILDREN
https://www.aecf.org/resources/race-for-results
From the web site: "In this 2014 policy report, the Annie E. Casey Foundation explores the intersection of kids, race and opportunity. The report features the new Race for Results index, which compares how children are progressing on key milestones across racial and ethnic groups at the national and state level."

REAPING THE REWARDS OF READING FOR UNDERSTANDING - 2020 REPORT
https://naeducation.org/reaping-the-rewards-of-reading-for-understanding-initiative/
From the website: "This National Academy of Education (NAEd) report synthesizes findings from scholarship conducted over the past decade as part of a large-scale federal investment by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to improve reading comprehension of U.S. students."

REDUCING COLLEGE DROP OUT RATE - ARTICLE
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/what-can-stop-kids-from-dropping-out.html
This April 2016  New York Times  article is titled "What Can Stop Kids from Dropping Out?" and focuses on college retention. 

REDUCTION IN LIBRARIANS IN CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS - ARTICLE & MAP
http://southsideweekly.com/school-librarians-shelved/
This Nov. 2016 article in Chicago's Southside Weekly news shows that drastic funding cuts have led to a reduction of full time librarians in many Chicago schools, and that high poverty, high minority areas are most affected. 

RELIGION AND EDUCATION AROUND THE WORLD - 2016 PEW REPORT
click here
From the report: "Large gaps in education levels persist, but all faiths are making gains – particularly among women".  Browse the report. It's full of charts showing education gains in different regions among different religious groups.

SCANS REPORT - 1991 EDUCATION GOALS TO BE ACHIEVED BY 2000
http://www.academicinnovations.com/report.html
The SCANS Report for America 2000 (issued in 1991) lists ten necessary skills that needed to be included and emphasized in every curriculum. This link points to a summary of recommendations.

SCHOOL FUNDING CALCULATOR - COMPUTING THE EFFECTS OF CHANGES TO STATE FUNDING FORMULAS
https://edfunding.urban.org/#about
From the web site: "School Funding formula parameters that adjust for district differences are important, but these adjustments may interact in ways that make it hard to understand overall effects on funding. To remedy this, we have built interactive models of funding formulas for Massachusetts, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia." If this works for these states maybe it will be expanded to all 50 states.

SCHOOLS CAN'T DO IT ALONE:  REPORT ON CHILDHOOD POVERTY (2013)
https://truthout.org/articles/schools-cant-do-it-alone-why-doubly-disadvantaged-kids-continue-to-struggle-academically/
The full headline of this article is "Schools Can't Do It Alone: Why "Doubly Disadvantaged" Kids Continue to Struggle Academically:  A report on childhood poverty proves once again that no single measure can cure poverty's ills."  While this is a 2013 article the basic message is one the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) have been sharing since the early 1990s. 

SCHOTT REPORT ON BLACK MALES IN PUBLIC EDUCATION - 2024
https://schottfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/schott-foundation-black-males-report2024.pdf
This report looks at the disparities of high school graduation rates of Black Male students in the US vis other students and surfaces the persistent challenges that exist in far too many school districts.  The report calls for building "loving systems' to improve graduation rates and life outcomes.  

SOROS FOUNDATION FOCUS ON EDUCATION AND YOUTH
https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/what-we-do/themes/early-childhood-and-education
From the web site: "The Open Society Foundations are committed to empowering young people by supporting efforts to increase access to quality education. From early childhood to higher education, we work to ensure young people from different backgrounds have equal access to education and to promote critical thinking, respect for diverse opinions, and free and open intellectual inquiry."  Visit the web site to learn more of its resources and programs.

SPARK THE LEARNING REVOLUTION
https://www.allkindsofminds.org/spark-the-learning-revolution
From the web site: "Changing the conversation from “how can we improve education?” to “how can we ensure learning for all students?” means framing the problem differently. And it means applying some revolutionary thinking to how we’re doing education now." 

STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING APPROACHES HELP UNDERSERVED KIDS ACHIEVE
click here
From the web site: "While, nationally, students of color and low-income students continue to achieve at far lower levels than their more advantaged peers, some schools are breaking that trend. A new set of case studies conducted by the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, or SCOPE,  at the Stanford Graduate School of Education looks at four of these schools in Northern California in which traditionally underserved students are achieving above state and district averages."

SUBURBAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS CAN HELP URBAN STUDENTS SUCCEED - 2021 ARTICLE
click here
This article from the Thomas B Fordham Institute shows how suburban schools in Boston and Ohio are accepting students from inner city neighborhoods and how this influences graduation and college attendance rates.

THE ANNENBERG INSTITUTE FOR SCHOOL REFORM
https://www.annenberginstitute.org/
From the web site: "The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University is a national policy-research and reform support organization that promotes quality education for all children, especially in urban communities.  Our focus is on developing and promoting the concept of “smart education systems”; that is, systems that coordinate educational supports and services wherever they occur – at school, at home, and in the community – to provide all children with equitable opportunities and high-quality learning experiences."

THE CENTER FOR SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS (CSOS)
https://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/about.html
From the web site:  "The purpose of the Center for Social Organization of Schools has remained consistent since its founding—to study how changes in the social organization of schools can make them more effective for all students in promoting academic achievement, development of potential, and eventual career success. The emphasis on social organization is based in sound theory— that changes in the structure of an environment will produce changes in the attitudes, behaviors, and accomplishments of the people in that environment. Schools can be made more effective for all students through changes in the organization of the classroom, school, and district."

THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF CLOSING EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT GAPS
click here
This article stated "If the United States were able to close the educational achievement gaps between native-born white children and black and Hispanic children, the U.S. economy would be 5.8 percent—or nearly $2.3 trillion—larger in 2050."  Read more. Download the full PDF. 

THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S ZONE, PROMISE NEIGHBORHOODS, AND THE BROADER, BOLDER APPROACH TO EDUCATION
click here
2010 report by Michelle Croft and Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst asks one question:  Does the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) produce exceptional academic achievement?  If it does, that is promising for Promise Neighborhoods.  If it doesn’t, it isn’t."

THE PROMISE OF EXTENDED LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: NEW OPTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
click here
From the web site: "Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success, edited by Terry K. Peterson, Ph.D., is a groundbreaking compendium of studies, reports and commentaries by more than 100 thought leaders including community leaders, elected officials, educators, researchers, advocates and other prominent authors."

THE REAL CHALLENGES TO BUILDING A DIVERSE TEACHER WORKFORCE
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/browncenter_20160818_teacherdiversityreportpr_hansen.pdf
Many feel that having more teachers who match the diversity of their students is one strategy to improve education outcomes for minority students. This report shows how difficult it will be to achieve this goal.

THE RIGHT TO LEARN. QUOTE FROM W.E.B. DUBOIS
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/597.html
Find this quote from W.E.B. Du Bois on the web site: "Of all the civil rights for which the world has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the right to learn is undoubtedly the most fundamental.... The freedom to learn... has been bought by bitter sacrifice. And whatever we may think of the curtailment of other civil rights, we should fight to the last ditch to keep open the right to learn, the right to have examined in our schools not only what we believe, but what we do not believe; not only what our leaders say, but what the leaders of other groups and nations, and the leaders of other centuries have said. We must insist upon this to give our children the fairness of a start which will equip them with such an array of facts and such an attitude toward truth that they can have a real chance to judge what the world is and what its greater minds have thought it might be."  --W.E.B. Du Bois, "The Freedom to Learn" 

This is also the opening paragraph in an article describing "The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools That Work", By LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND.

THE ROAD MAP PROJECT - SEATTLE
https://roadmapproject.org/
From the web site: "The Road Map Project is a community-wide effort aimed at improving education to drive dramatic improvement in student achievement from cradle to college and career in South King County and South Seattle. The project builds off of the belief that collective effort is necessary to make large-scale change and has created a common goal and shared vision in order to facilitate coordinated action, both inside and outside school."

THE SERVE CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT GREENSBORO
https://serve.uncg.edu/
From the web site:  "The SERVE Center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a university-based research, development, dissemination, evaluation, and technical assistance center. For nearly 30 years, we have worked with educators and policymakers to improve education."

THE SOFT BIGOTRY OF HIGH EXPECTATIONS - JUST ACTION 2024 ARTICLE
https://justaction.substack.com/p/the-soft-bigotry-of-high-expectations
This article makes this case: "To combat black-white school achievement gap, worry about their persistent segregation, don't hope for miracle teachers."

THOUSANDS OF BLACK CHICAGO KIDS LEAVE CITY FOR SEGREGATED DISTRICTS IN SUBURBS
https://www.chicagoreporter.com/black-cps-student-migration/
This 2017 Chicago Reporter article shows that Black families are leaving Chicago to escape violence but only moving to segregated areas of suburbs, with poor schools and potential for similar negatives. 

TO&THROUGH PROJECT - FOCUSES ON 9TH GRADE THROUGH COLLEGE GRADUATION
https://toandthrough.uchicago.edu/
From the web site: "The To&Through Project’s mission is to close the gap between the 76% of CPS freshmen who aspire to attend college and the actual results of only 18% obtaining a 4-year college degree within 10 years, with research, data, and resources designed to give every student who aspires to earn a college degree the opportunity and support to do so."  This is a project of the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute. The site has extensive data on individual Chicago Public High Schools and encourages community involvement.

UK DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WEB SITE
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education
From the web site: "The Department for Education is responsible for children’s services and education, including higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills in England. The department is also home to the Government Equalities Office. We work to provide children’s services and education that ensure opportunity is equal for all, no matter what their background or family circumstances.

UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL FUNDING INEQUITIES - EDBUILD MAPS
http://viz.edbuild.org/maps/2016/cola/resource-inequality/
This link points to a page with an in-depth analysis of school funding, using interactive maps that enable viewers to zoom into specific districts. 

URBAN SCHOOL STIGMA - ARTICLE
click here
This article shows advantages of students in suburban and more  affluent schools compared to students in urban, largely poverty schools.  This is one statement from the article:   "discrepancies in test scores indicate more about families and neighborhoods than they do about the work being done in schools. One notable study, for instance, found that the influence of family and neighborhood factors accounts for roughly 60 percent of the variance in student test scores; teachers, by contrast, account for only about 10 percent."   Add this to your research when looking to  understand differences in support available to kids in high poverty urban schools and those in more affluent areas. 

US DEPT. OF ED. - EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT (ESSA)
https://www.ed.gov/esea
This is the US Department of Education web site. This link provides details on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which when launched in 2001, was known as  No Child Left Behind, NCLB.

WHY SO FEW WHITE KIDS END UP IN CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS - WBEZ STORY
click here
For anyone trying to understand racial segregation, poverty, inequality in Chicago, this article provides some needed information.

WHY THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT GAP IS A RACIST IDEA
https://www.aaihs.org/why-the-academic-achievement-gap-is-a-racist-idea/
This article opens by saying "Standardized tests have become the most effective racist weapon ever devised to objectively degrade Black minds and legally exclude their bodies.” Read the full article.

WIDENING ACHIEVEMENT GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR
https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor
This report by Sean Reardon, a Stanford professor of education and sociology, shows that the income achievement gap--the difference in the average standardized scores between children from families at the 10th percentile of income distribution and children at the 90th percentile--is now "nearly twice as large as the black-white achievement gap."

XQ INSTITUTE - FOCUSES ON IMPROVING HIGH SCHOOLS IN US
https://xqsuperschool.org/
From the web site: "The XQ Institute is in service of parents and pioneers, entrepreneurs and teachers, business leaders and administrators, youth and education experts—who are joining a movement to rethink America’s schools. Together, we can use our knowledge, rigor, and creativity to create a new model for school itself."  This is a project of the Forum for  Youth Investment, which also leads the Ready-by-21 Initiative

Research Links Section of Tutor/Mentor Library

Since 1993 we have collected and shared information about why tutor/mentor programs are needed and where they are needed most, and how people can build strong programs in all high poverty areas of the Chicago area, that operate in the non-school hours, on weekends and on the Internet.  The site where this information has been hosted is now only available as an archive. The links are being moved to this site.

This concept map shows the research section of the library. Under each node is a link to a sub-section and list of links.

Click the links below to find sub categories within this part of the library.

If you find broken links send information to tutormentor 2 at earthlink.net

New links will be added on a regular basis.

Many of the links in these sub-sections point to universities and other organizations who are collecting information and focusing on these issues. On their websites you'll find even more relevant information.

Education Research and Articles - click here

Drop-out Crisis Research and Articles - click here


Mentoring and Tutoring Research and Articles - click here


Health Disparities Research and Articles - click here

Social Capital Research and Articles - click here

Policy Research and Articles - click here

Additional Research-re: education, youth development - click here

Misc Links of interest - click here

AN ON LINE DICTIONARY - WORDNICK
http://www.wordnik.com/
Type in a word you don't know and you'll not only get a definition, but examples of how the word is used in various formats. Teach your students to use this tool and you'll help them in all forms of learning.

DICTIONARY.COM/TRANSLATOR
https://www.dictionary.com/
From the website: “Dictionary.com is the world's leading online source for definitions, word origins, and a whole lot more. From Word of the Day to the stories behind today's slang, Dictionary.com unlocks the secrets of the English language for millions of people.“

EDUPEDIA - DIGITAL ENCYCLOPEDIA/GLOSSARY/DICTIONARY HYBRID
https://www.theedadvocate.org/edupedia/all-categories/
Found this description on Twitter: "Edupedia is a digital encyclopedia/glossary/dictionary hybrid that serves as an authoritative resource for knowledge and information about teaching and learning." The site provides brief definitions of a wide range of education and learning related topics. 

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA
https://www.britannica.com/
Encyclopedia Britannica on line. There may be a subscription fee for use of some features on the site.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHICAGO
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/700025.html
The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago is edited by Chicago Historical Society. It is a dynamic and unprecedented metropolitan history. Thousands of historical resources-including articles, photos, maps, broadsides and newspapers-related to Chicago's colorful and complex history are at your fingertips.

ENCYCLOPEDIA.COM - FREE ACCESS
https://www.encyclopedia.com/
From the web site:  "At Encyclopedia.com, you get free access to nearly 200,000 reference entries from sources you can cite. Plus, more than 50,000 topic summaries feature related pictures, videos, topic summaries, and newspaper and magazine articles from around the world. Encyclopedia.com also provides innovative tools that allow you to rate and sort the reference content you find to be the most useful."

THE FREE DICTIONARY. INCLUDES THESAURUS
https://www.freethesaurus.com/
From the web site: "Free Thesaurus is a comprehensive online thesaurus of synonyms, antonyms, and related words. The thesaurus contains more than 145,800 unique entries from three top sources: Collins Thesaurus of the English Language - Complete and Unabridged, The American Heritage Roget's Thesaurus, and WordNet."

LEXIPEDIA - MAKING MEANING OF WORDS
https://www.lexipedia.com/
Type in a word and a splatter map shows numerous variations of that word. Great for expanding vocabulary.

MERRIAM-WEBSTER COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY AND THESAURUS
https://www.merriam-webster.com/
Includes dictionary and thesaurus and word games.

VISUWORDS-™ - A MODERN DICTIONARY FOR A MODERN WORLD
https://visuwords.com/
The best way to understand what Visuwords™ offers is to go to the site and use it. On the home page it says it's "Not  your grand dad's dictionary. It represents Language visually."

WORDSMYTH - DICTIONARY WITH A COMPLETE, INTEGRATED THESAURUS
https://www.wordsmyth.net/
On the home page enter a word that you are looking up in the search box and it will appear on a list of choices. Click the word and a screen will appear with information about that word.