Recommended Links
ALA: Every Child Ready to Read
The Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children have incorporated the latest research into a series of parent and caregiver workshops designed to provide public libraries with vital tools to help prepare parents for their critical role as their child's first teacher. These tools were developed by Dr. Grover C. Whitehurst and Dr. Christopher Lonigan, well-known researchers in emergent literacy, and have been tested and refined by library demonstrations sites around the country.
American Association of School Librarians
AASL works to ensure that all members of the school library media field collaborate to provide leadership in the total education program, participate as active partners in the teaching/learning process, connect learners with ideas and information, and prepare students for life-long learning, informed decision-making, a love of reading, and the use of information technologies.
The American Library Association provides leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.
Association for Library Service to Children
The Association for Library Service to Children develops and supports the profession of children's librarianship by enabling and encouraging its practitioners to provide the best library service to our nation's children.
Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
The Barbara Bush Foundation supports literacy efforts across the country where parents and children can learn to read together.
Center for the Book (Library of Congress)
On behalf of books and reading, the Center for the Book serves as an advocate, a catalyst, and a source of ideas — both nationally and internationally. Its major themes and projects are reading and literacy promotion, the role of books and reading in today's society, the international role of books, the recognition and celebration of America's literary heritage, and the history of books and print culture.
The Children's Book Council is a non-profit trade organization dedicated to encouraging literacy and the use and enjoyment of children's books since 1945. The CBC sponsors Young People's Poetry Week and National Children's Book Week each year.
Colorín Colorado is a bilingual web site that provides information, activities, and advice on helping children learn to read and succeed at school. Developed by the Reading Rockets project, Colorín Colorado features practical information for Spanish-speaking parents, beautiful illustrations from Caldecott Award-winning illustrator David Diaz, video clips of celebrities such as the late beloved Celia Cruz, and skill-building activities that draw upon Spanish-language songs and rhymes.
Early Literacy Initiative, University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development trains reading tutors and sends them out to work with children; sharing the expertise of the college's literacy faculty with parents, teachers, and others who work with children; and coordinating other literacy activities.
Education Planet is a K-12 Web services company designed to help teachers, students, and parents easily find and utilize teacher approved educational resources, web tools, and e-learning services. It features a database of more than 100,000 educational resources. Teachers use Education Planet to search over 16,000 lesson plans, utilize powerful teacher web tools, share teaching ideas, and learn more about how to integrate technology into curriculum.
Education World features a search engine that can be restricted to only search educational sites. It also offers news from USA Today, monthly site reviews, employment listings, and original content such as lesson plans, articles written by education experts, and information on how to make the best use of technology in the classroom.
Through The Educator's Reference Desk you can access AskERIC's 2,000+ lesson plans, 3,000+ links to online education information, and 200+ question archive responses. The Educator's Reference Desk provides a search interface for the ERIC Database, allowing access to over one million bibliographic records on educational research, theory, and practice.
Even Start works to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities of the Nation's low-income families by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program.
First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and to own their first new books. The primary goal of First Book is to work with existing literacy programs to distribute new books to children who, for economic reasons, have little or no access to books.
Linking Education and America Reads through National Service (LEARNS) is a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL),the Bank Street College of Education BSC), and the Southern Regional Council (SRC.) LEARNS provides training and technical assistance to projects focused on literacy and education, including Americorps, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve. For more information, please view the following websites: NWREL: educationnorthwest.org/ BSC: www.bnkst.edu/ Southern Regional Council: www.southerncouncil.org/
National Adult Literacy & Learning Disabilities Center (NALLD)
America's Literacy Directory is a national database of literacy programs available via the Internet and the National Institute for Literacy's toll-free number. The ALD connects employers, learners, volunteers, social service providers, and others to current information about literacy programs in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.
National Even Start Association
The mission of the National Even Start Association is to provide a national voice and vision for Even Start Family Literacy programs. The purpose of the Even Start Family Literacy Program is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities for families. This is accomplished by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy and adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified literacy program. Even Start is implemented nationally through cooperative projects that build on existing community resources, creating a new range of services for children families and adults.
National Head Start Association
The National Head Start Association is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than 1 million children, 200,000 staff, and 2,700 Head Start programs in the United States. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start community by advocating for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development to Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery.
National Institute for Literacy (NIFL)
NIFL was created by the National Literacy Act of 1991, when a bipartisan Congressional coalition acted on the literacy field's request for a federal office focused solely on literacy. The Institute serves as a focal point for public and private activities that support the development of high-quality regional, state, and national literacy services.
The Parent-Child Home Program (formerly the Mother-Child Home Program) is a proven, innovative home-based literacy and parenting program serving families challenged by poverty, low-levels of education, language barriers and other obstacles to educational success.
