Contact:
David Thomas (202) 401-1579
DEPARTMENT CREATES NEW CLEARINGHOUSE ON COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL REFORM
The department's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) has created a new clearinghouse for comprehensive school reform to provide educators and the public with the most recent research and evaluation of reform designs, models, and strategies.
In addition, the clearinghouse will assist customers in promoting the use and application of research and development to upgrade the capacity of schools so they can prepare all students to achieve to high standards.
"Comprehensive school reform has been one of the linchpins of our efforts to improve education," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. "We have supported improvement strategies developed to help transform schools and raise student achievement through consistent, coordinated efforts. This clearinghouse will serve as a good source of information on model school reform initiatives and their effectiveness."
The National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform (NCCSR) will be located at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. It will represent the combined expertise of George Washington University and its partners, the Council for Basic Education and the Institute for Educational Leadership in providing leadership and services in education policy.
NCCSR will provide user services through access to newly developed computerized databases and a web site that will include information on comprehensive school reform, organized on a national and a state-by-state basis. NCCSR will produce a monthly electronic newsletter, CSR Bookmark, as well as a quarterly newsletter, CSR Benchmarks, and an annual report on the progress of comprehensive school reform across the country. NCCSR also will sponsor a national conference on comprehensive school reform issues.
Arthur Gosling, executive director of the Washington Area School Study Council, will be the director of the clearinghouse. Gosling, former superintendent of schools for Arlington County, Va., earned his doctorate at Indiana University and has done post-doctoral work at Harvard University and at the Center for Creative Leadership. He has also been a classroom teacher and a high school principal.
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