AskERIC: Search ERIC Database
http://ericir.syr.edu/Eric/
Free index, from 1966 to the present, to articles and documents about education.

Education Week on the Web
http://www.edweek.org/
Articles and background information (click on "In Context") from Education Week and Teacher Magazine about K-12 educational issues, including national standards, distance learning, phonics and whole language, and home schooling. Also has links to education departments in all 50 states, educational statistics, and "report cards" on education.

High Standards
http://cfl.state.mn.us/GRAD/highstandards.htm
Shows, in tabular form, the learning areas and standards for each grade level.

Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning
http://cfl.state.mn.us/
Includes a staff directory, CFL programs and services, publications like School District Profiles, district information, CFL News on test results and educational issues.

Minnesota Electronic Curriculum Repository II
http://mecr.state.mn.us/
Log in as "Guest" and click on "Learning Areas" for descriptions of Large Processes and Concepts, Assessment Tasks, Learning Activities, Learning Resources, and Performance Assessments.

Minnesota's Graduation Standards
http://cfl.state.mn.us/GRAD/gradhom.htm
Current information about Minnesota graduation standards and basic standards test results.

School District and School Information
http://cfl.state.mn.us/cfldirectory/section_c.html
Click on "Public Elementary and Secondary Schools by County", then the letter that begins the name of the county, and finally the county itself to get the name, address, phone/fax/email, district, and school administrator for each school in that county.

U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/
Discusses educational priorities of the federal government - improving reading and math skills, reducing class sizes, involving parents in their children's education, and constructing new schools and modernizing old ones. Has a useful "Top 20" list of links to the Encyclopedia of ED Statistics, ERIC Digests, and a National Public School Locator.
 

LESSON PLANS AND SITES TO USE IN TEACHING:

Blue Web'n Content Categories
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/categories.html
Links to reviewed and approved educational sites arranged in these categories: art, business, English, foreign languages, health and physical education, history and social studies, math, science, technology, vocational education, education, and community interest.

Children's Literature - Resources for Teachers
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/rteacher.html
Has lesson plans and teacher's guides for teaching literature in grades K-12.

Education World - Helping You Make A Difference
http://www.education-world.com/
Search or browse by subject from among the more than 120,000 links to information about the arts & humanities, history, math, physical education, science, and social sciences. Also has information of interest to administrators and teachers of adult, vocational, and distance learners.

Ed-U-Tech - Best Practices for Technology-Enhanced Teaching
http://www.education.umn.edu/edutech/Default.html
General information about the 12 learning areas that are part of Minnesota's High Standards, learning area discussions for teachers, and links to online resources to developed performance packages, lesson plans, classroom activities, and professional journals and organizations related to the learning area.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
http://www.ed.gov/free/subject.html
Browse by subject or search for specific themes for K-12 unit plans.

Frank Potter's Science Gems - Mathematics
http://www.sciencegems.com/math.html
Links to more than 11,000 K-12 math web sites that include pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, probability and statistics, number theory, measurement, functions, discrete mathematics, mathematical structure, logic, linear algebra and matrices, group theory, topology, and the history of mathematics.

Gateway to Educational Materials
http://www.thegateway.org/index.html
Browse, or search by grade level and topic, this U.S. Department of Education database of over 14,650 lesson plans, curriculum units, and other educational resources about the arts, educational technology, foreign languages, health, language arts, math, philosophy, physical education, religion, science, social studies, and vocational education.

Reference: Best Source for Facts on the Net
http://www.refdesk.com/
Well-structured guide to Internet news and reference facilities. Includes links to expert advice, homework helpers, weather pages and sports.

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
Links to great educational web sites about agriculture, art, business, health/PE/fitness, history/social studies, hobbies, holidays, internet (especially on evaluating web pages), literature, math, news, government, performing arts, reference, science and technology, special education, sports, vocational education, weather, and foreign languages.

McREL Products - Whelmers
http://www.mcrel.org/whelmers/
The "Air Cannon", "Dancing Penney", "Falling Test Tubes" and 17 other science experiments for K-12 classes.

Study WEB
http://www.studyweb.com/
Links to more than 141,000 educational sites on the Internet grouped into 30 categories. The level of difficulty of the information is indicated for each site by giving it a "grade level" of between 1 (first grade) and 14 (college sophmore).

ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS:

Homeschool Mall
http://www.home-school.com/mall/
Links to hundreds of sites selling homeschooling products.

Jon's Homeschool Resource Page
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/
Homeschooling essays, how-to's, discussion groups, support groups, home pages and state laws.

Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators
http://www.mache.org/
Scroll down to "Calendar" and beyond for links to articles about home schooling, home school resources, and links to the web for home school students.

U.S. Charter Schools Website
http://www.uscharterschools.org/
Resource directory and links to information on starting and running a charter school, state legislation regarding charter schools, charter school profiles, and curriculum and instruction for charter schools.

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES:

2001 Colleges, College Scholarships and Financial Aid Page
http://www.college-scholarships.com/index.html#State_Pages
Scroll down to "Colleges By State" and select a state for a list of colleges and universities, their toll-free numbers, web sites, online application forms and email addresses of admissions, scholarship and financial aid information for those colleges.

College Board Online
http://www.collegeboard.com/
Helpful information about applying to colleges and universities including deadlines for applying for financial aid.

College Net
http://www.collegenet.com/
Great site for finding information about and links to many of the 500 U.S. colleges and universities listed at this site. Provides online college admissions forms and information about financial aids and scholarships.

FinAid
http://www.finaid.com/
Information about scholarships and grants, prepaid tuition plans, loans, and other types of financial aids for college.

Scholarships.com
http://www.scholarships.com/index.html
You must register to be able to search this free database of over 600,000 college scholarships.