Join the conversation

Resources

• Communications Toolkit - Back to School Resources!
• Civic Education and the 2009 Inauguration
• Staffing High-Needs Schools
• District-Wide Improvement
• Public School Success Stories
• Reading & Mathematics

Communications Toolkit

LFA's Communications Toolkit aims to help education leaders communicate more effectively about public education. Based on focus groups and polling LFA commissioned in 2004 and 2005, the toolkit offers original research findings on public opinion, a guide to promoting public schools, and language for op-eds and speeches. It includes:

• "Values, Vision and Performance: American's Hopes for Their Public Schools", a Power Point presentation on the results of LFA's original research on public opinion of public schools.
• The "Practical Guide to Promoting America's Public Schools," which is designed to help educators and others interested in education promote public education in their communities
• Sample Language for Written Materials, such as columns, articles and letters
• Sample Language for Speeches
• New! Language for Back-to-School Communications! Use all or part of LFA's new back-to-school speech for your back-to-school presentations, columns or other communications. This language outlines a vision for 21st century public schools which is already taking shape in schools across the country. It reaffirms the extraordinary mission of our public schools and encourages strong partnerships among public schools, citizens and communities. Click here to download.

Civic Education and the 2009 Inauguration

In celebration of the 2009 presidential inauguration, the Learning First Alliance created a statement on the important role of public schools in a democracy. Feel free to use this statement in school assemblies, school board meetings, publications or for any other Inauguration observance.

The Learning First Alliance also worked with a number of partners to identify resources to help schools celebrate the inauguration. These resources are available here.

Staffing High-Need Schools

In 2005, Learning First Alliance organizations came together to produce a common framework for ensuring all students access to highly effective teachers and leaders in their schools: A Shared Responsibility: Staffing All High-Poverty, Low-Performing Schools with Effective Teachers and Administrators.

District-Wide Improvement: Success Stories

In 2003, the Alliance examined five high-poverty school districts with a strong track record of improving achievement. The resulting report, Beyond Islands of Excellence: What Districts Can Do to Improve Instruction and Achievement in All Schools, identifies a set of practical steps that schools and districts can take to move beyond a few excellent schools to success across entire systems. You can download the full report here, or you can review these related materials:

• Beyond Islands of Excellence - A Leadership Brief
• Case studies of individual districts, including: the Aldine Independent School District; the Chula Vista Elementary School District; the Kent County Public Schools; the Minneapolis Public Schools; and the Providence Public Schools

Public School Success Stories

The Learning First Alliance has just released a print collection of 25 stories about public schools and school districts that are using innovative strategies to give every student every chance at success in the 21st century.

Reading and Mathematics

The Learning First Alliance's publications on mathematics and science remain perennial bestsellers. Over 30,000 have been downloaded from the internet in the past four years, and we have sold thousands more in hard-copy. These publications include:

• Every Child Reading: An Action Plan, which details the Alliance's agreement on the most effect reading instruction.
• Every Child Reading: A Professional Development Plan, which provides teachers strategies improving their skills as reading instructors.
• Every Child Mathematically Proficient: An Action Plan, which advanced four research-based strategies for bringing American students to world-class standards in mathematics.
• Math tips for parents, teachers, and schools.