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The categories of links presently include the following: |
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Language Policy and Bilingual Education
The SCEELD is a research center associated with the College of Education at Arizona State University. The site provides a number of important links (many of which are also here). The SCEELD is also the editorial home of the Bilingual Research Journal.
Kenji Hakuta is a researcher and professor at Stanford University. He posts many of his own important research papers at his site, including ones on second language acquisition, bilingual education, and policy issues in education. His "main passion is in how research can impact education practice and policy. As a researcher with training in experimental psycholinguistics, I am especially interested in the role of evidence from behavioral data collected with theoretical discipline."
Jim Crawford has created what is perhaps the most extensive and important website on bilingual education and language policy issues. He continuously updates the site, providing analyses of the latest policy initiatives relating to the education of language minority students and English-only policy drives.
Stephen D. Krashen is professor emeritus from USC. He has been one of the premier scholars in the fields of bilingual education, second language acquisition, and literacy education for decades. The site provides a list of most of his publications. He has made many of his most recent writings, especially those appearing in various popular media outlets, available electronically.
Dr. Mora is Associate Professor in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. Her website provides a wealth of information about bilingual education generally and bilingual teacher education specifically. She has been especially skillful at exposing the nefarious distortions by Ron Unz and other English-only advocates of data supposedly demonstrating the effectiveness of Proposition 227 in California.
National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition
The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs (NCELA) collects, analyzes, synthesizes and disseminates information about language instruction educational programs for English language learners and related programs. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement & Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) under Title III of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. This used to be the "National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education." The OELA used to be the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs. Upon the "election" of George the younger, the word "bilingual" was purged from federal vocabulary.
National Association for Bilingual Education
From the site: "The National Association for Bilingual Education is the only professional organization at the national level wholly devoted to representing both English language learners and bilingual education professionals. Along with our affiliate organizations in 23 states, we represent a combined membership of more than 20,000 bilingual and English-as-a-second-language teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, university professors and students, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and parents."
Institute for Language and Education Policy
From the website: "The Institute is incorporated for the purpose of "educating the public on research-based strategies for promoting academic excellence and equity for English and heritage language learners." Our mission is to ensure that policies for serving these children reflect the latest research about language and education. Toward that end we plan to produce issue briefs, policy analysis, news bulletins, commentary articles, online publications, media outreach, and public forums on issues including the No Child Left Behind Act, the English Only movement, and bilingual and heritage language education."
Consortium for Language Policy and Planning
The Consortium supports projects that show promise of enhancing understanding of language policy issues. The site provides listings of some projects and a number of bibliographies and other resources.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Issues
"The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project is an informal, national netrowork of organizations and individuals working to ensure that fair, accurate, and unbiased information regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and information about the nature and diversity of sexual orientation is presented to America's youth as part of public school education."
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is the leading national organization fighting to end homophobia and heterosexism in K-12 schools. The site offers a resource center with a variety of links and information for teachers, guidance counselors, and other school personnel seeking ways to help the gay/lesbian students in their schools. The site also provides up to date news regarding GLBT issues. GLSEN "strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. We believe that such an atmosphere engenders a positive sense of self, which is the basis of educational achievement and personal growth. Since homophobia and heterosexism undermine a healthy school climate, we work to educate teachers, students and the public at large about the damaging effects these forces have on youth and adults alike."
General Policy Issues
Multicultural/Intercultural Education and Critical Pedagogy
Professional Education Organizations
"The purposes of this organization are (1) to promote the fundamental philosophic treatment of the problems of education, (2) to promote the clarification of agreements and differences among the several philosophies of education through the opportunities for discussion afforded by annual meetings, (3) to advance and improve teaching in the philosophy of education both in schools for the education of teachers and in other educational institutions, (4) to cultivate fruitful relationships between workers in general philosophy and workers in philosophy of education, (5) to cultivate fruitful relationships between scholars in philosophy of education and those in other areas of education, and (6) to encourage promising students in the field of philosophy of education."
"Founded in 1935, The John Dewey Society exists to keep alive John Dewey's commitment to the use of critical and reflective intelligence in the search for solutions to crucial problems in education and culture. We subscribe to no doctrine, but in the spirit of Dewey, we welcome controversy, respect dissent, and encourage the responsible discussions of issues of special concern to educators. We also promote open-minded, critical reconsiderations of Dewey's influential ideas about democracy, education, and philosophy."
Class and Poverty
The purpose of the organization is "to identify and promote strategies that prevent child poverty in the United States and that improve the lives of low-income children and their families." The site provides state and local information, a number of research reports (with pdf versions of the executive summaries), and full-length articles from the organization's newsletter.
Philosophy
Given that the MRC is a right-wing propaganda machine, their slogan--"bringing
political balance and responsibility to the media"--is quite laughable.
Recently, a spokesman for the Center honestly declared "We are training
our guns on any media outlet or reporter interfering with America's war
on terrorism or [trying] to undermine President Bush." In other words,
freedom of speech is ok as long as you agree with them. Of course, they
have bought into the myth of the liberal media, a myth that simply disintegrates
under inspection (not even close inspection). Instead of wasting your
time at the MRC site, check out Noam Chomsky's "Myth
of the Liberal Media" instead or visit his archives.
After all, he has been largely black-listed from mainstream media so browsing
on your own may be the only way to get to the truth. Speaking of which,
I also recommend "Project
Censored." They provide information censored by the political
machine--the stuff the government would prefer you not know. For example,
PC reports that in 1993 "one of the most thorough investigations
into the quality of education in the United States did not produce the
expected results to support the Bush administration's preference for the
school voucher system and ended up being swept under the carpet."
The CEO is nothing about what its name suggests. In fact, its purpose is to work against programs that provide equal opportunity. One of the Center's favorite targets is bilingual education. At one point, they were promising people cash payoffs to tell them horror stories about bilingual education. Maybe this is why their case in New Mexico to try to eliminate bilingual education was thrown out of court? Their sister organization is the Read Institute. Their target is also bilingual education. But I warn you, the evidence they provide to make their case is mostly anecdotal and what they call research is quite a stretch. If you want scholarship and research that qualifies as scientific on the same issues that the CEO and Read cover, I recommend the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I also recommend the Institute for Language and Education Policy (Disclosure: I am a founding member of the ILEP).