Recommended Resources

Rapid Resources
10 Free Online Educational Game Sites
10 Free Online Educational Game Sites
10 Free Online Educational Game Sites

MindShift shares ten free online educational game sites that teachers or parents may use as teaching supplements.
Rapid Resources
Growing Readers
Growing Readers
Growing Readers

Best Beginnings provides early literacy resources to encourage parents and caregivers to read with their children to prepare them for Kindergarten.
Rapid Resources
Resource Guide to the Foundational Skills of the California ELA/ELD Framework
Resource Guide to the Foundational Skills of the California ELA/ELD Framework
Resource Guide to the Foundational Skills of the California ELA/ELD Framework

This guide from the California Department of Education (CDE) highlights key concepts and guidelines selected from the ELA/ELD Framework regarding the foundational skills of reading that will support students in becoming independent readers who are capable of making the transition from early foundational literacy to content based literacy.
Rapid Resources
The California Department of Education - ELA/ELD Frameworks
The California Department of Education - ELA/ELD Frameworks
The California Department of Education - ELA/ELD Frameworks

The California Department of Education (CDE) provides State Board of Education adopted English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework.
Rapid Resources
Funbrain - Free Online Learning
Funbrain - Free Online Learning
Funbrain - Free Online Learning

Funbrain offers hundreds of engaging online games, stories and printables that develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving and literacy.
Rapid Resources
Read Across America
Read Across America
Read Across America

This campaign focuses on developing students' love of reading through reading events across the country.
Rapid Resources
Reading A-Z
Reading A-Z
Reading A-Z

Reading A-Z provides affordable, easily accessible online reading resources: leveled reading books, and downloadable, projectable, printable teacher materials. Purchase necessary, free trial available.
Best Practices
Best Practices for Reading Intervention Planning
Best Practices for Reading Intervention Planning
Best Practices for Reading Intervention Planning

Get an overview of the characteristics associated with reading problems as well as the planning and implementation of effective interventions.
Rapid Resources
Reading is Fundamental - Literacy Facts and Stats
Reading is Fundamental - Literacy Facts and Stats
Reading is Fundamental - Literacy Facts and Stats

America’s literacy crisis has reached epidemic proportions, with millions of children and adults affected each and every year by a never-ending cycle of educational disadvantage.
Rapid Resources
12 Steps to Creating a Language-Rich Environment
12 Steps to Creating a Language-Rich Environment
12 Steps to Creating a Language-Rich Environment

Teacher shares best practices on how to create a language-rich classroom environment. Some best practices include reading aloud every day, using word walls, and using anchor charts.
Rapid Resources
Starfall - Reading, Math and Songs
Starfall - Reading, Math and Songs
Starfall - Reading, Math and Songs

Starfall.com hosts a variety of interactive resources, allowing children to engage in phonics-based reading, develop early literacy skills, and read decodable texts that support high interest topics and themes.
Rapid Resources
Universal Kids Games
Universal Kids Games
Universal Kids Games

Universal Kids allows children to play and explore exciting games with their favorite characters. Math, spelling, and coloring games are available for children ages 2 to 12 years.
Best Practices
What is a Community School?
What is a Community School?
What is a Community School?

The Coalition for Community Schools website provides resources for families, students and school leaders.
Best Practices
Community School Standards
Community School Standards
Community School Standards

The Community School Standards are designed to help improve the quality of community school implementation. The standards provide an in-depth description of community schools, including a self-assessment.
Best Practices
School and Business Partnerships That Work - Success Stories
School and Business Partnerships That Work - Success Stories
School and Business Partnerships That Work - Success Stories

Business-school partnership success stories that share ideas to help schools build successful partnerships.
Rapid Resources
Activities to Promote Parent Involvement
Activities to Promote Parent Involvement
Activities to Promote Parent Involvement

This article provides suggestions to promote positive home-school connections between families and teachers.
Rapid Resources
Reading Partners - Take Action
Reading Partners - Take Action
Reading Partners - Take Action

Reading Partners mobilizes communities to provide students with individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade. They partner with under-resourced schools and provide volunteer reading partners to work one-on-one with students who struggle with reading.
Reports
Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships Between Schools and Communities: The Role of a Connector
Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships Between Schools and Communities: The Role of a Connector
Building Mutually Beneficial Relationships Between Schools and Communities: The Role of a Connector

This report describes and analyses a successful effort to create a school-community connector, a person whose job it is to find and build relationships with a wide range of neighborhood assets (residents, voluntary associations, local institutions, businesses) and then connect them to the neighborhood school.
Best Practices
Faith-Based and Community Leaders Early Learning Toolkit
Faith-Based and Community Leaders Early Learning Toolkit
Faith-Based and Community Leaders Early Learning Toolkit

This toolkit provides specific guidelines and strategies to empower faith-based and community leaders to help young African-American children and families thrive.
Rapid Resources
Family Engagement Framework - A Tool for California School Districts
Family Engagement Framework - A Tool for California School Districts
Family Engagement Framework - A Tool for California School Districts

This 56-page document serves primarily as a resource to support districts in engaging and communicating with families.
Best Practices
Detroit District Aims for Faith-Based Partnerships for Every School to Support Student Needs
Detroit District Aims for Faith-Based Partnerships for Every School to Support Student Needs
Detroit District Aims for Faith-Based Partnerships for Every School to Support Student Needs

This article describes one Detroit school district's partnership with faith-based groups to support students.
Rapid Resources
School and Community: An Important Link
School and Community: An Important Link
School and Community: An Important Link

This article reviews the importance of developing a link between schools and the community.
Rapid Resources
Student Success is a Community Responsibility
Student Success is a Community Responsibility
Student Success is a Community Responsibility

This essay by Freeman Hrabowski explores the role and responsibility, a community plays in student success.
Rapid Resources
10 Partnering Tips for a Strong School Community
10 Partnering Tips for a Strong School Community
10 Partnering Tips for a Strong School Community

Developed by National PTA with the help of parents and principals, these tips are part of an overall strategy for building relationships with principals to improve student achievement.