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Established at Johns Hopkins University in 1996, NNPS invites schools, districts, states, and organizations to join together and use research-based approaches to organize and sustain excellent programs of family and community involvement that will increase student success in school. "Based on more than three decades of research on parental involvement, family engagement, and community partnerships, NNPS's tools, guidelines, and action team approach may be used by all elementary, middle, and high schools to increase involvement and improve student learning and development," explains Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, Founder and Director of NNPS. NNPS also guides district leaders to help their schools develop goal-oriented programs of family involvement and community connections, and to meet NCLB requirements for parent involvement. In addition, NNPS assists state departments of education and organizations to develop policies and take actions that will support districts and schools in strengthening their partnership programs. Researchers and facilitators at the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University work with the members of NNPS to study the nature and results of involvement. NNPS aims to increase knowledge of new concepts and strategies; use research results to develop tools and materials that will improve policy and practice; provide professional development conferences and workshops; share best practices of parental involvement and community connections; and recognize excellent partnership programs at the school, district, organization, and state levels. This website provides NNPS members with updated information, research results, and ideas for action from the NNPS staff and members across the country. The site also informs prospective members about NNPS approaches, benefits, and services.

Incorporated in 1966, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), is a global association for English language teaching professionals headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. TESOL encompasses a network of approximately 52,000 educators worldwide, consisting of more than 12,000 individual members and an additional 40,000 educators within the 100 plus TESOL affiliate associations. Representing a multifaceted academic discipline and profession, TESOL offers members serial publications, books, and electronic resources on current issues, ideas, and opportunities in the field of English language teaching. TESOL also conducts a variety of workshops and symposia, including an annual convention, regarded as the foremost professional development opportunity for English language educators worldwide. TESOL's mission is to develop and maintain professional expertise in English language teaching and learning for speakers of other languages worldwide.

The mission of SEDL is to solve significant problems facing educational systems and communities to ensure a quality education for all learners. SEDL is committed to long-term, systematic, research- and experience-based solutions derived from research, development, evaluation, information provision, technical assistance, and professional development. SEDL's primary efforts are in five program areas: improving school performance, strengthening teaching and learning in content areas, integrating technology into teaching and learning, involving family and community in student learning, and connecting disability research to practice. Work in these areas concentrates on K-16 education and on underserved students, particularly those living in poverty. SEDL is a private, nonprofit corporation dedicated to fulfilling its mission with clients and other education stakeholders on a national, regional, state, and local basis through diverse and interrelated funding, partnerships, and projects.

This resource is the web site for the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt). NCCRESt provides technical assistance and professional development to close the achievement gap between students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and their peers, and reduce inappropriate referrals to special education.

"Schools that experience rapid demographic shifts can meet the challenge by implementing five phases of professional development."

The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education The work of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education addresses issues, provides information, expands professional development, and offers opportunities for sharing and networking, all in the area of educating America's children. The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, with the assistance of partner members, seeks to help other collaborative initiatives at local, state, and national levels: Hold regional and national forums and conferences to educate their partners about current, relevant family-friendly policies and exemplary practices; Provide these partners (from families, business, education, religious and community groups, and government agencies) with comprehensive partnership building, management, and assessment tools; and Use resources and research provided by the U.S. Department of Education and other national, local, and state partners, to mobilize interest, energy, and expertise through convened meetings, directed research, materials (guides, kits, reports, and CDs), hosted teleconferences, a monthly newsletter, a Web site, and extended technical assistance.

"The North Central Regional Laboratory (1995) has developed the following checklist to determine the quality of a school's multicultural practices: "

"Multicultural education means different things to different people. However, the differences are not as great, confusing, or contradictory as some critics and analysts claim. Many of these differences are more semantic than substantive, a reflection of the developmental level in the field and the disciplinary orientation of advocates. One should expect people who have been involved in a discipline or educational movement for a long time to understand and talk about it differently from those who are new to it. Similarly, educators who look at schooling from the vantage point of sociology, psychology, or economics will have differing views of the key concerns of schooling. Yet, these disparate analysts may agree on which issues are the most critical ones. Such differences over means coupled with widespread agreement on substance are naturally found in discussions of multicultural education. But this diversity should not be a problem, especially when we consider that multicultural education is all about plurality. The field includes educational scholars, researchers, and practitioners from a wide variety of personal, professional, philosophical, political, and pedagogical backgrounds. Therefore, we should expect that they will use different points of reference in discussing ethnic diversity and cultural pluralism. Yet, when allowances are made for these differences, a consensus on the substantive components of multicultural education quickly emerges. Such agreement is evident in areas such as the key content dimensions, value priorities, the justification for multicultural education, and its expected outcomes. Only when these fundamentals are articulated do variations emerge. Some advocates talk about expected outcomes, while others consider the major determining factor to be the group being studied; the arena of school action is the primary focus for one set of advocates, and still others are most concerned with distinctions between theory and practice. Some people