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Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by education expert Jerry Mainz to advance learner-centered approaches to education. AERO is considered by many to be the primary hub of communications for educational alternatives around the world.

AmeriCorps AmeriCorps is a national network of hundreds of programs throughout the US. There are two programs that are managed nationally: AmeriCorps*VISTA, which stands for Volunteers in Service to America, and AmeriCorps*NCCC, the National Civilian Community Corps. AmeriCorps is often referred to as "the domestic Peace Corps." Both agencies are committed to service, and both offer challenging and rewarding full-time opportunities. AmeriCorps members serve only in the US and a stint usually lasts 10 months to one year. (Some AmeriCorps projects also offer part-time opportunities, and some AmeriCorps members serve more than one term of service.)

American Association of School Administrators (AASA) AASA connects you to a network of like-minded colleagues, encourages you to exchange ideas and solutions, and gives you access to widely respected leaders in American education today.

America's Promise mobilizes people from every sector of American life to build the character and competence of our nation's youth by fulfilling Five Promises for young people: (1) Ongoing relationships with caring adults in their lives - parents, mentors, tutors, or coaches; (2) Safe places with structured activities during nonschool hours; (3) Healthy start and future; (4) Marketable skills through effective education; and (5) Opportunities to give back through community service.

Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) is a nonprofit, regionally oriented education research, development, and service institution. Its mission is to link the knowledge from research with the wisdom from practice to improve teaching and learning. AEL works closely with schools, school districts, and states to develop, test, and refine practical products and processes that address needs expressed by local educators. Resources thus developed are then available to others working on similar problems. AEL—a member of the National Education Knowledge Industry Association (NEKIA)—is governed by a 28-member Board of Directors, made up of educators and others concerned about education in its primary service area: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. AEL's major work is funded through several contracts and grants from the U.S. Department of Education.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has remained the expert in youth mentoring since its founding in 1904. BBBSA provides one-to-one mentoring relationships between adult volunteers and children primarily from single-parent families.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America - Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence. Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe place to learn and grow—all while having fun. It is truly "The Positive Place For Kids."

Child Service Demonstration Center (CSDC) has a thirty year history of providing high-quality professional development and evaluation services to educators working with regular and special-needs students. Today, the CSDC offers high quality professional development in addition to conference offerings and assistance in utilizing other resources available throughout the state of Oklahoma.

Children Now supports a variety of programs dedicated to children in the United States: Media Advocacy, The Internet, Talking With Kids About Tough Issues Campaign, Children and the Media Program, Health Initiative, and Working Families Program.

Children's Defense Fund The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to leave no child behind and to ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start, and a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

The Children's Partnership is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to inform leaders and the public about the needs of America's 70 million children, and to engage them in ways that benefit children. The Partnership undertakes research and policy analysis, publishes reports and multimedia materials, and forges new alliances among parents, policymakers and the private sector to achieve tangible gains for children. The Partnership focuses particular attention on identifying new trends and emerging issues that will affect large numbers of America's children and on providing early analysis and strategies for action.

Communities In Schools (CIS) is the nation's leading community-based organization helping kids succeed in school and prepare for life. CIS focuses on the 5 basics: (1) A personal relationship with a caring adult; (2) A safe place; (3) A healthy start; (4) A marketable skill; and (5) A chance to give back.

Communities In Schools of South Carolina (CISSC) has as its mission to champion the connection of needed community resources with schools, to help young people successfully learn, stay in school and prepare for life. CISSC brings together community resources such as mentoring programs, county and state drug and alcohol education programs, local businesses, parenting groups, and health care providers. The goal is to meet children's needs so that they can concentrate on learning.

Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSO) is a nationwide, nonprofit organization composed of public officials who lead the departments responsible for elementary and secondary education in the states, the US extra-state jurisdictions, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity. In representing the chief education officers, CCSSO works on behalf of the state agencies that serve pre K-12 students throughout the nation.

Families and Schools Together (FAST) is a prevention program developed by Dr. Lynn McDonald in 1988, in Madison, Wisconsin. FAST is collaborative, starts early, works with families in groups, and puts research into practice. FAST starts by creating culturally representative teams based on a collaboration between parents and professionals from the local school and two community-based agencies.

Family Support America, formerly Family Resource Coalition of America, promotes family support as the nationally recognized movement to strengthen and support families and places the principles of family support practice at the heart of every setting in which children and families are present.

Generations United (GU) is the only national membership organization focused solely on promoting intergenerational strategies, programs, and public policies.

I Am Your Child Campaign - I Am Your Child is a national public awareness and engagement campaign to make early childhood development a top priority for our nation. Since its spring launch in 1997, I Am Your Child has educated millions of parents and professionals about breakthrough new discoveries in the process of brain development. These findings reveal that the first three years of a child's life are more important for emotional and intellectual growth than previously thought.

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI) strives to improve the community services and social supports available to individuals with developmental and other disabilities, and their families, throughout the United States and abroad.

Join Together (JTO), founded in 1991, supports community-based efforts to reduce, prevent, and treat substance abuse across the nation. It is primarily funded by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the Boston University School of Public Health. In 1996, Join Together broadened its scope to include gun violence prevention, supported by a grant from the Joyce Foundation. Additional funding for the gun violence project was awarded in 2001 by the David Bohnett Foundation.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to apply knowledge to solve the problems of people. Since its beginning the Foundation has continuously focused on building the capacity of individuals, communities, and institutions to solve their own problems.

Kids Count Data—a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation—is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the US. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, Kids Count seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children.

Laboratory for Student Success works with teachers, parents, schools, state departments of education, community agencies, professional groups, and policymakers, learning from and building on their diverse expertise and strategies for student achievement so that their successes are known and utilized by others in widespread efforts in the service of all students in the mid-Atlantic region—Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC—and nationally. LSS emphasizes five areas in its work: Educational Leadership, Improving Teacher Quality, Building and Sustaining Comprehensive School Reform, Developing School–Family–Community Connections Integrating Technology as a Catalyst for High-Performing Learning Communities.

The Listen Up! network is a vehicle for youth media producers to exchange and critique each other's work. Listen Up! messages are presented in the galleries of its web site and on the compilation reels that are distributed to all the local Listen Up! sites. Listen Up! also assists its producers in submitting work to national and international film festivals.

Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others—a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October.

Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), located in Aurora, Colorado, is a private, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to improve education through applied research and development. McREL provides products and services, primarily for K-12 educators, to promote the best instructional practices in the classroom. Established in 1966, McREL maintains a staff of some 100 employees. McREL operates the Central Regional Educational Laboratory, which provides field-based research, technical assistance, professional development, evaluation and policy studies, and information services to state and local education agencies in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has as its mission to identify and promote strategies that prevent child poverty in the United States and that improve the lives of low-income children and their families.

National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) - For over ten years, NCLE has provided information on adult ESL literacy education to teachers and tutors, program directors, researchers, and policymakers interested in the education of refugees, immigrants, and other U.S. residents whose native language is other than English. This population includes adults who are low-literate and low-skilled, as well as those who are more educated but need to improve their English language skills.

National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) - The National Center for Family Literacy is a nonprofit organization supporting family literacy services for families across the United States through training, programming, research, advocacy and dissemination.

National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY) is a free information service for communities, organizations, and individuals interested in developing new and effective strategies for supporting young people and their families.

National Council of LaRaza (NCLR) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization established in 1968 to reduce poverty and discrimination, and improve life opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) was founded in 1982 to manage the National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign and McGruff the Crime Dog and to administer the Crime Prevention Coalition of America. The Campaign was the first public education program on crime prevention in the country. NCPC's mission is to be the nation's leader in helping people keep themselves, their families, and their communities safe from crime.

National Mentoring Partnership does not provide direct mentoring services. It provides the resources and tools mentoring organizations need to effectively serve young people in their communities. It's a resource for information about mentoring and mentoring initiatives.

National Middle School Asssociation (NMSA) - Since its inception in 1973, NMSA has been a voice for those committed to the educational and developmental needs of young adolescents. NMSA is the only national education association dedicated exclusively to the growth of middle level education.

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse - The purpose of the Clearinghouse is to collect and disseminate information and materials related to service-learning for Learn and Serve America grantees and other programs involved in service-learning. The Clearinghouse also operates a variety of listserves for discussion & information on service-learning; a website and information database; a toll-free information phone line; and maintains a collection of publications on service-learning.

No Child Left Behind provides a wealth of information for educators and families.

North Central Regional Educational Lab (NCREL) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping schools—and the students they serve—reach their full potential. They specialize in the educational applications of technology. One of ten Regional Educational Laboratories, they provide research-based resources and assistance to educators, policymakers, and communities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. NCREL's ultimate goal is to help clients build tools and apply proven practices to create schools where all students can develop their skills and abilities.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) provides research and development assistance to education, government, community agencies, business, and labor. NWREL's primary service area is the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Focusing on priority educational needs in the region, the NW Regional Educational Laboratory conducts 11 programs, five in research and development and six in training and technical assistance, and provides requested targeted services.

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) provides resources and products developed to promote educational excellence for children, youth, and adults, particularly in multicultural and multilingual environments. Besides its personnel, PREL's most important asset is its established partnerships and networks designed to meet the educational needs of governments, communities, and business. PREL's Work includes operating one of 10 Regional Educational Laboratory programs in the nation under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education. This contract, together with other federal grant programs administered by PREL, provides a wide array of services to the Pacific Service Region.

Points of Light Foundation has as its mission to engage more people more effectively in volunteer community service to help solve serious social problems.

SERVE, directed by Dr. John R. Sanders, is an education organization with the mission to promote and support the continuous improvement of educational opportunities for all learners in the Southeast. The organization's commitment to continuous improvement is manifest in an applied research-to-practice model that drives all of its work. Building on theory and craft knowledge, SERVE staff develop tools and processes designed to assist practitioners and policymakers with their work, ultimately, to raise the level of student achievement in the region. SERVE is governed by a board of directors that includes the governors, chief state school officers, educators, legislators, and private sector leaders from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

South Carolina Department of Education provides a wide variety of information about education in South Carolina.

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) is a private, not-for-profit education research and development (R&D) corporation based in Austin, Texas. SEDL works with educators, parents, community members, and policymakers to build or find strategies and tools addressing pressing educational problems. Then, SEDL works with them to put the strategies into practice so they can improve education for all students.

Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) is a collection of Internet-accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to Special Education.

State Information - Interested in facts and figures about education in a particular state? This site has data on each state and the District of Columbia, including key indicators on classroom size, funding, test scores, and more.
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U.S. Department of Education helps parents, teachers, students, and others...make sure children start school ready, learn to read, and succeed in school; find lesson ideas, learning resources, and educational materials; locate teacher training programs and professional development opportunities; strengthen assessment, parent involvement, school safety, special education, and civil rights.

WestEd is a nonprofit research, development, and service agency. The agency traces its history back to 1966 when Congress created a network of Regional Educational Laboratories. In 1995, two of those original laboratories—Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development and Southwest Regional Laboratory—joined forces to form WestEd. As one of the nation's Regional Educational Laboratories, WestEd serves Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

Youth Service America (YSA) - YSA's mission is to strengthen the effectiveness, sustainability, and scale of the youth service movement. YSA envisions a powerful network of organizations committed to making service the common experience and expectation of all young Americans. A strong youth service movement will create healthy communities, and foster citizenship, knowledge, and the personal development of young people.