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"RJI Vision and Mission Reynolds Journalism Institute: Ideas. Experiments. Research. Solutions. 2009 The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) exists to develop and test ways to improve journalism through new technology and improved processes. In partnership with media organizations and nonprofits, RJI delivers technological and strategic innovations in journalism and advertising. RJI was launched in 2004 with an initial grant of $31 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation . In conjunction with the centennial celebration of the Missouri School of Journalism, it officially dedicated its world headquarters in September 2008. This 50,000 square-foot facility on the University of Missouri campus has state-of-the-art resources to test and demonstrate new technologies, experiment with convergence news production and delivery systems, and conduct real-time and virtual seminars and conferences. RJI's work crosses diverse specialties within journalism, including media convergence, editorial content and methods, the evolution of advertising, innovation in management and the impact of new technologies. It also includes varied fields on campus such as law, computer science, marketing, education and other disciplines. The vision The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute is a world-class center for researching and testing new models of journalism in this era of technological advances. RJI makes the most of its location in a premier, hands-on journalism school at a research-extensive university and the collective creativity of visiting professionals and researchers. It assumes a leading position among centers devoted to journalism and media studies. Exterior view of the new RJI building on 9th Street in Columbia, MO. The mission The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute engages media professionals, scholars and other citizens in programs aimed at improving the practice and understanding of journalism in democratic soc

"Doing What Works (DWW) is a website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of DWW is to create an online library of resources that may help teachers, schools, districts, states and technical assistance providers implement research-based instructional practice. DWW is led by the Office of Planning, Evaluation & Policy Development (OPEPD) at the U.S. Department of Education. OPEPD relies on the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education (and occasionally other entities that adhere to standards similar to those of IES) to evaluate and recommend practices that are supported by rigorous research. Much of the DWW content is based on information from IES' What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). The WWC evaluates research on practices and interventions to let the education community know what is likely to work. For each practice, it issues a guide and/or an intervention report that describes what the practice involves and what the research says. In addition, some DWW content is based on other information and materials from IES. Then, DWW provides examples of possible ways educators might apply those research findings, but these are not necessarily the only ways to carry out these teaching practices. It's important to note that the examples provided on DWW - including any products named in school materials or found on websites referenced on DWW - should not be construed as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any products, programs, or curricula."

The Promising Practices Network (PPN) is a group of individuals and organizations who are dedicated to providing quality evidence-based information about what works to improve the lives of children, families, and communities. Who runs PPN? This project is operated by the RAND Corporation, the nation's original "think tank." RAND is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. Long recognized as one of the world's premier research organizations, RAND produces work of enduring value-research and analysis that is prized and respected for its quality, innovation, comprehensiveness, and objectivity. The wide dissemination of its findings is an equally important part of RAND's mission: research must be readily accessible to policymakers if it is to have impact on the public good. RAND brings to PPN extensive experience in the child policy arena, with more than 150 researchers and consultants working in areas such as child health, juvenile justice, education, child care, labor, and demographics. RAND's analysis has shaped public policy on a range of problems facing young people, including prenatal health, substance abuse, firearms violence, and early childhood interventions.

"About TeachTown TeachTown brings experts in autism research together with experts in enterprise software and professional video game design Our Story We've been hard at work for over 5 years developing a research-based program to make therapy more accessable and affordable. TeachTown is dedicated to using scientifically validated practices that incorporate the latest academic research in the development of our products. Our programs are based on existing interventions such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) that have been proven effective in the treatment of autism and our intervention tools and training programs are being validated through ongoing rigorous research studies funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Our team has a passion for helping families and professionals in the special-needs space - and many of our team members have personal experiences in which to draw from."

The PPN website is a unique resource that offers credible, research-based information on what works to improve the lives of children and families. Sometimes referred to as a "best practices" site or a "model program" site, PPN is both of those things and much more. In addition to providing information on Programs that Work, PPN also links to additional research information in all areas related to child well-being, including their physical and mental health, academic success, and economic security. These additional resources include Research in Brief, Resources and Tools and Expert Perspectives. To promote successful implementation of best practices and model programs, PPN also screens and posts evidence-based information on effective Service Delivery. In addition to the breadth of information PPN provides, visitors can rely on PPN to provide information that has met our high standards for scientific credibility, objectivity, and clarity. Learn about our process for reviewing information for inclusion on the site and how to submit a program for consideration.

"Discovery Communications To Launch New Multimedia, Multi-Year Science Initiative, "Be The Future," Supporting Obama Administration STEM Priorities -- DirecTV Boosts Support of Science Literacy with Move of Science Channel to Total Choice, Offering Millions of Additional Subscribers Access to Quality Science Programming -- November 23, 2009 (Silver Spring, Md.) Underscoring its commitment to leading in science-related programming and education, and answering President Obama's call to action to encourage science literacy, Discovery Communications today announced a new multimedia, multi-year nationwide initiative called "Be The Future." Over the next five years, Discovery will launch a programming block, education curriculum and tools to inspire student learning and careers in the sciences and support the White House's efforts behind science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. "Lifting American students from the middle to the top of the pack in STEM achievement over the next decade will not be attained by government alone," said President Obama. "I applaud the substantial commitments made today by the leaders of companies, universities, foundations, non-profits and organizations representing millions of scientists, engineers and teachers from across the country." "The exploration of science, technology and the natural world is central to the mission and DNA of Discovery Communications and we are incredibly proud to put the full muscle of our content and resources behind this critical White House initiative," said John S. Hendricks, founder and chairman, Discovery Communications. "Through 'Be the Future' we will spark the innate curiosity in school-aged viewers and people of all ages, help drive interest and leadership in science-related careers and inspire a lifelong interest in how science shapes our everyday lives." A sweeping, multi-platform initiative, "Be the Future" will be built on two primary Discovery businesse

"Founded in 1987, the Buck Institute for Education is dedicated to improving 21st Century teaching and learning throughout the world by creating and disseminating products, practices and knowledge for effective Project Based Learning. BIE is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization that receives partial funding from the Leonard and Beryl Buck Trust, the same trust that supports the Marin Community Foundation, the Marin Institute and the Buck Institute for Age Research . This funding allows us to make our products and services affordable, and to focus BIE resources on clients and partners with a demonstrated commitment to expanding the use of project based pedagogy in schools and communities."

The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) advances learning opportunities for individuals with disabilities by fostering technology innovation. Specifically, we help researchers, product developers, manufacturers and publishers to create and commercialize products of value to students with special needs. To achieve its goals NCTI offers services to: *Analyze needs, issues, trends, and promising technology innovations *Cultivate a collaborative network *Promote reliable research-based solutions *Facilitate successful commercialization approaches for the education market; Funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), NCTI works with a deep and supportive community of government, nonprofit, and private organizations. Our network of individuals and staff is dedicated not only to the development of powerful assistive technologies but to the commercial success that will make them viable on a large scale.

"About powerspeaK¹² (Formerly Power-Glide) From the start, powerspeaK¹²'s mission has been to revolutionize the way children learn foreign language. We offer what no other language program does-an optimal mix of innovative, yet proven teaching methods that are integrated and woven together for an unrivaled learning experience. This successful blend of best practices evolved following decades of research by world language experts. While powerspeaK¹² courses are continuously enhanced to reflect the latest language conventions, the company's roots of creativity and innovation remain firmly planted throughout every powerspeaK¹² learning experience. This is the powerspeaK¹² difference - a difference we stand behind with our satisfaction guarantee. Our courses use a proven natural-language-learning method that utilizes immersive techniques to foster powerful and authentic language mastery. Unlike competitors' offerings, powerspeaK¹² courses were developed specifically to maximize learning in younger minds, with flexibility to address all learning styles and all age ranges, with 29 courses covering kindergarten through high school. These self-paced, engaging courses include age-appropriate content, games, and culturally relevant activities to help learners enjoy their studies and remain highly motivated. The all-new graphics, video, music, and games encourage multi-sensory learning and promote retention of material. We offer students, teachers, and schools the ability to meet their foreign language needs with a flexible and differentiated offering. The self-paced nature of the powerspeaK¹² courses makes it possible for parents who do not know the target language to help a child learn without any prior training. Schools can offer courses with or without teacher support, and can choose to utilize their own teachers or certified powerspeaK¹² teachers. With a unique methodology based on decades of research and proven results,

"Welcome to the School for Ethical Education (SEE)! SEE is a not-for-profit teaching organization that provides classes, creates programs and offers consultation services to promote strategies for comprehensive ethics and character education. Our work is based in the research of the modern character-education movement and anchored in the practices published by the Character Education Partnership in their 11 Principles of Effective Character Education. Annual Report Now Available. The School for Ethical Education (SEE) has successfully completed 14 years of activity to put ethics in action. Review our Annual Report in PDF format. You are encouraged to browse and search this website to learn about our support for comprehensive character education that include strategies to: (1) advance caring classroom communities through classroom meetings, (2) develop expectations, procedures and rules to support moral discipline and academic integrity, (3) integrate the instruction of core values into academic lessons to promote higher-order thinking and writing, (4) practice cooperative learning strategies in support of academic lessons and service-learning, (5) learn a character-based decision-making strategy to advance ethical choices and actions, (6) recognize important social skills to teach in support of conflict resolution and (7) be familiar with strategies to implement and measure effective character education."

"The Georgia Cyber Academy uses the K¹² curriculum to offer Georgia students in grades K-8 an exceptional learning experience. With individualized learning approaches, the Georgia Cyber Academy and K¹² provide the tools kids need to succeed-in school and beyond. The Georgia Cyber Academy is one of the fastest-growing schools in Georgia, and here's why: Our experienced, highly qualified Georgia-certified teachers, who are available online and by phone. The exceptional, individualized K¹² curriculum, which covers both the core subject areas and electives. Based on decades of education research, this curriculum packages high-quality lessons with mastery-based assessments that ensure students achieve success at each and every level. The online planning and assessment tools, resources, and hands-on materials ranging from textbooks to microscopes, from rocks and dirt to beautifully illustrated classic children's stories, and much more. Our supportive school community, which organizes fun and informative monthly activities where GCA parents, students, and staff share their successes, helpful hints, and more. The high-quality, tuition-free public education that enables a learning experience that is individualized for each student."

"About iNACOL: iNACOL, The International Association for K-12 Online Learning, is a non-profit organization that facilitates collaboration, advocacy, and research to enhance quality K-12 online teaching and learning. What we do: Facilitate the sharing, collection, evaluation, and/or dissemination of information resources and materials; Facilitate and disseminate research, and identify research needs; Advocacy and public policy that supports activities and legislation that removes barriers and supports effective online teaching and learning without respect to space and time; Develop and facilitate national K12 online learning standards; Create the voice of K12 within the larger education community with effective marketing, communications, and public relations activities; Assist and facilitate funding efforts for online K12 learning; Facilitate professional development for teachers and administrators; Identify and drive future directions in K-12 online education; Network and identify collaborative opportunities with other professional K-12 organizations; Drive educational initiatives that incorporate online learning and ways that transform positive learning outcomes for students; Mission: iNACOL strives to ensure all students have access to a world-class education and quality online learning opportunities that prepare them for a lifetime of success. Vision: Online learning is a powerful innovation that expands education opportunities. iNACOL supports access to high-quality online learning for all students. The International Association for K-12 Online Learning Believes: Online learning is a viable option that allows every learner to achieve a quality education; Models of reform in public and private education should incorporate online learning as a viable tool for change; Online learning is a viable path for educating children throughout their primary and secondary education years.

"World Youth News is an global online news project for secondary school students from around the world. Adhering to the highest journalistic standards, students select the issues they want to report on, and write, edit and publish their articles on the web-based news service. School publications can reprint articles from World Youth News to add an international component to their news. Any secondary school student (between 14-19 years old) can join this project as a reporter after successfully completing an online training and certification course. World Youth News aims to take students beyond becoming media literate into becoming international correspondents for student publications. Its worldwide team of reporters and editors works collaboratively while researching, writing and editing articles. With an emphasis on unbiased reporting and respect for a diversity of views, World Youth News hopes to not only develop journalistic skills among students but also broaden cross-cultural understanding and provide an important global youth perspective."

"The United States Distance Learning Association was the first nonprofit Distance Learning association in the United States to support Distance Learning research, development and praxis across the complete arena of education, training and communications. In 1987, the USDLA was founded on the premise of creating a powerful alliance to meet the burgeoning education and training needs of learning communities via new concepts of the fusion of communication technologies with learning in broad multidiscipline applications. An elected president, an Executive Committee, and a governing board now govern USDLA with Dr. John G. Flores as the Executive Director of the Association. The learning communities that USDLA addresses are: pre K-12, higher education, continuing education, corporate training, military and government training, home schooling and telemedicine. In addition USDLA is also focused on national and international technology based Distance Learning"

"The Virtual Heroes Division of Applied Research Associates creates collaborative interactive learning solutions for the healthcare, federal systems and corporate training markets. Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) leverage simulation learning and digital games-based learning paradigms to accelerate learning, increase user proficiency and reduce training costs."

"America's Choice is a new kind of educational organization. We are a solution provider. We offer comprehensive, proven solutions to the complex problems educators face in the era of accountability. America's Choice has an unparalleled history as a national thought leader and as the creator of research-based school improvement solutions that work for states, districts, and schools. We have traveled the world to learn how the most successful schools and school systems organize and systematically teach for results. We know how to help the millions of American students who are at risk of failing to catch up, to meet rigorous academic standards, and to succeed in school. And we know how to bring out the best in school leaders, coaches, and teachers. Our coherent, uniquely American solutions help schools focus on teaching, learning, and results."

"Founded in 1999, Desire2Learn Incorporated is a leader in providing innovative eLearning solutions to academic and other leading organizations around the world. Our offerings include our Enterprise eLearning Suite, which is comprised of the web-based Learning Environment, ePortfolio, Learning Repository, and LiveRoom. Our focus is on research and development and service and support for our clients, and our products lead the market in innovation and client satisfaction. Desire2Learn is committed to being the global leader in the development and support of innovative eLearning environments for the education, government and corporate markets. We work collaboratively with our clients in pursuit of their eLearning visions; their success is our measure of achievement. Our future focused platform along with our enterprise service spectrum offer unparalleled scalability, flexibility, expertise, and responsiveness. Ultimately, Desire2Learn enables institutions to customize teaching and education for millions on a one-to-one basis, to achieve boundless learning."

"Focusing on the K-12 community In the late 1990s, the State of Michigan founded Michigan Virtual University to support the state's economic development efforts by providing convenient and cost-effective education and training to Michigan's current and future workforce. After redefining its mission and vision in 2004, MVU now serves the K-12 education community exclusively through the Michigan Virtual School and Michigan LearnPort. As one of the largest virtual schools in the U.S., Michigan Virtual School offers more than 150 online courses, including unique courses like Chinese and CareerForward®, an online career exploration course. Michigan LearnPort brings professional development to the K-12 educational community. Hosting a broad catalog of courses and collaborative tools, Michigan LearnPort provides online learning resources and solutions for educators. MVU provides powerful and engaging online career development tools for high school and middle school students, parents and K-12 educators, including a no-cost online course called CareerForward that helps all Michigan schools meet the state's online learning graduation requirement. MVU's web-based application called myDreamExplorer® gives students an opportunity to explore different career pathways, take personal interest surveys and build a personalized education development plan. The MVU organizational values represent a set of core beliefs that continue to build a high performance team environment. These value statements serve as the foundation for MVU's vision and mission statements. MVU is committed to the following values: High standards for quality, ongoing research and the use of data to improve operational decisions; Use of innovative technologies to address persistent educational challenges; Listening to customer and stakeholder feedback to guide product and service evelopment plans; Excellence in the design, development and delivery of online educational

"Jennifer Harris Edstrom , founder and principal consultant of Edstrom Educational Consulting, has a decade of assessment experience garnered from work with individual classrooms, state accountability programs, and national shelf products. After graduating from Wellesley College, she was certified to teach in the public school systems in Needham, Massachusetts, South Brunswick, New Jersey and Glencoe, Illinois. As a consultant for ETS, Ms. Edstrom was trained by Grant Wiggins's CLASS organization to author material for their Assessment Wizard program, a software program that assists teachers in developing authentic performance assessments. In 2002, Ms. Edstrom joined Riverside Publishing Company, where she oversaw the content development of high-stakes testing programs at all grade-levels and in all subject areas. Most notably, she worked closely with the Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Assessment and Arts Supervisor for the State of Washington in researching, developing, and implementing their Goal 2 authentic performance assessments in the areas of Art, Music, Drama and Dance, now being used across the state at the elementary, middle and high school grades. Ms. Edstrom left Riverside Publishing to found Edstrom Educational Consulting in 2005. Through her leadership, EEC has grown a large client base that includes notable educational publishing divisions, including Riverside Publishing, Holt-McDougal, and CTB/McGraw-Hill. In her role as principal consultant, Ms. Edstrom has acted as an advisor in the best practices of assessment, as well as authored assessment materials of the highest quality with attention to specifications. She has instructed educators in both small and large-group settings with a focus on all aspects of assessment, from testing best practices, types of assessment and creation of rubrics."

"Foundations for the Future (F3) is a collaboration of Georgia Tech researchers working with government and industry support to ensure universal K-12 technology access and effective use in Georgia. The focus of Foundations for the Future is to help accelerate the application of telecommunications technology for interconnecting K-12 schools for collaborative learning, remote access to educational facilities (zoos, museums, libraries), and Internet-based resources. The mission of F3 is to leverage existing investments and expertise to promote powerful, effective, and feasible alternatives that improve educational practice in Georgia through innovative applications in technology. Funding for Foundations for the Future was provided initially by the AT&T Foundation through a $2 million grant. The Georgia State Legislature began funding F3 in July 1998. Foundations for the Future welcomes interested parties to become involved in this collaborative effort."