Welcome to SEDL's Free Resources

SEDL's library of free resources are resources that have been developed and field-tested with our partner schools, districts, and communities.

Our 20 Most Recent Resources

*FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 36: Infinity Communication Access Lab Recognized With 2012 Product Utilization Support and Help (PUSH) Award* (2013) This FOCUS Technical Brief describes the exemplary knowledge translation work of the winner of the Center on KT4TT's 2012 PUSH Award. The recipient, Infinity Communication Access Lab, is a partnership between Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and the Toronto District School Board in Toronto, Canada. The lab aims to discover person-centered access solutions and to ensure that those solutions are transferred into environments true to where children live and learn. Dr. Tom Chau oversees the lab, which serves 130 public school students with a range of developmental conditions.
*Identifying Competencies and Actions of Effective Turnaround Principals: Southeast Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, January 2013* (2013) Research over the past 30 years has found that effective principals can significantly improve various components of student achievement and learning. In addition, there are few examples of improving student achievement that were not led by an effective principal. Research has also identified the need for the change to be systemic or comprehensive in the school turnaround process to ensure sustainability. Along with a systemic improvement process, Duke (2006), identifies 10 “essential” school components for the turnaround principal’s focus and action as keys to sustained success for the benefit of all students. This briefing paper addresses the essential competencies and actions of the turnaround principal.
*Leadership Actions for Transforming Schools: SEDL Insights, Vol. 1, No. 1* (2013) Effective leadership is a crucial part of school improvement. Yet leaders at schools in the process of transformation often struggle with how to best guide their staff and students to better outcomes. Our experiences serving as turnaround principals in Texas and South Carolina and then working with underperforming schools while at SEDL have revealed insights on the core actions that leaders take in successfully leading school transformations. These actions can create the conditions needed to shape a school culture where teaching and learning can improve.
*Common Core State Standards Video Series: Mathematics* (2012) The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) videos are designed to support states, schools, and teachers in the implementation of selected math standards. Each video is an audiovisual resource that focuses on one specific standard through examples and illustrations geared to enhancing understanding.
*Connecting Kids to Mathematics and Science* (2012) This nine-session professional development course provides teachers in grades 4–8 with hands-on experience in integrating mathematics, science, and technology in the classroom. The course is designed for use by an experienced trainer or facilitator and is available online free of charge.
*Engaging Diverse Learners Through the Provision of STEM Education Opportunities: Southeast Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, May 2012* (2012) Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are viewed as fundamental elements in preparing our next generation to compete in the 21st century economy. This brief examines how various states are seeking to improve access to STEM education opportunities for diverse learners to meet state and federal education priorities and funding requirements.
*FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 34: Tracking Evidence of Knowledge Use Through Knowledge Translation, Technology Transfer, and Commercial Transactions* (2012) This FOCUS Technical Brief, which extends FOCUS No. 26, explains how knowledge translation and technology transfer contribute to not only technological innovation but also commercial transaction, which is the actual transformation of knowledge embodied in products and services into beneficial socioeconomic impacts.
*FOCUS - Technical Brief Number 35: Modeling Technology Innovation: Combining Science, Engineering, and Industry Methods to Achieve Beneficial Socioeconomic Impacts Systematically and Deliberately* (2012) This FOCUS Technical Brief summarizes a paper recently published in the open-access journal Implementation Science. The full paper presents a conceptual framework that integrates all three knowledge-generating methods—scientific research (R), engineering development (D), and industry production (P)—into a logic model format, which is useful for planning, obtaining, and measuring the intended beneficial impacts by implementing knowledge in practice.
*Improving Family and Community Engagement Through Sharing Data: Southeast Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, November 2012* (2012) As data collection, analysis, and decision making expand on state and local levels, so does the expectation of effectively communicating data to the families of school children and their communities. Surveys indicate that people value receiving information on their schools (Owens & Peltier, 2002). They want to know how their schools are doing and are interested in receiving more detailed information (Owens & Peltier).
*Mosaic: An Integrated Approach to Mathematics, Science, Technology, & Language* (2012) This K–5 supplemental instructional program provides lessons and resources that integrate math, science, and technology while supporting English learners and academic language skills. The program is available online free of charge.
*Online Workshop: Barriers and Supports for Research Use* (2012) This interactive workshop looked at strategies for overcoming obstacles as well as ways to promote the use of high quality research information to support employment of people with disabilities. Our presenters addressed how research findings are used in planning and decision making, and what new research is needed.
*Rapid Response: Compensation Strategies to Address Teacher Shortages* (2012) This resource was produced in response to a request from a state department of education (SDE) served by the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) at SEDL that requested information regarding teacher shortages, specifically merit pay, compensation strategies, and other actions taken or under consideration by SDEs to address this issue.
*Rapid Response: Professional Development Connected to Student Achievement in STEM Education* (2012) The Southeast Comprehensive Center at SEDL produced this resource in response to a request by a state department of education for information about professional development for teachers on student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
*Research-Based Strategies for Teaching Social Studies, Science, and Mathematics to ELs at the Secondary Level: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 9* (2012) This article provides useful research-based information for educators and others seeking to support English learners (ELs) at the secondary level in social studies, science, and mathematics. The article may also prove helpful for those who would like to learn about factors that influence the educational achievement of this significant and growing number of students. Furthermore, the authors provide some general strategies used in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to demonstrate the distinction between ESL and the content needs of ELs.
*Secondary Content-Area Literacy: Time for Crisis or Opportunity for Reform?: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 12* (2012) This brief examines the critical need to implement instruction at the secondary level around adolescent, or content-area, literacy. The challenge is to connect the teaching of literacy to the rest of the secondary education improvement agenda.
*Stepping Stones: A Texas Migrant Early Childhood Program for 3- and 4-Year-Olds* (2012) This home-based migrant preschool program provides 100 lessons aligned to the Revised Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. The lessons, available in both English and Spanish, are organized around early learning themes or units. A manual to guide home educators and migrant program coordinators is included.
*Teacher Preparation Programs: Research and Promising Practices: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 11* (2012) The literature on teacher preparation programs in the United States is extensive. However, there is limited scientifically based research on what kind of program produces effective teachers; rather, the literature consists mostly of calls for change in teacher preparation programs. Almost all experts agree that major changes are needed in these programs, with the emphasis being to produce teachers who are effective in enhancing student learning. This paper reports evidence-based research and offers suggestions based on studies that include theoretical work, qualitative analysis, statistical analysis, and randomized experience that could provide strong causal evidence of the effects of teacher preparation on student learning.
*The Use of Student Perceptual Data as a Measure of Teaching Effectiveness: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 8* (2012) States are carefully reviewing their teacher evaluation systems to make them more meaningful and comprehensive by including multiple measures. This paper looks at one of those multiple measures—the use of student perceptual data to inform a performance-based teacher evaluation.
*Transforming Low-Performing Rural Schools: Texas Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, Number 10* (2012) This brief examines how rural districts and schools can integrate the unique attributes and resources found in rural communities into improvement efforts to promote the transformation of low-performing schools.
*Using Formative Assessment to Improve Student Achievement in the Core Content Areas: Southeast Comprehensive Center Briefing Paper, January 2012* (2012) Since 2001, federal laws such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 have made raising student achievement standards the center of our national conversation. Consequently, educators have increasingly turned their attention to exploring the potential of formative assessments as one approach to increasing student outcomes in order to meet federal and state accountability requirements.

Click here to sign up for SEDL Monthly, SEDL's e-mail bulletin, and we'll notify you when SEDL announces new products, services, or has other news of interest to the education community.