The Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) has unveiled a database which the public can access in order to gain information about anything and everything about education in the United States.
Known as ERIN Project (Education Resource Information Navigator Project), the web-based system is currently in beta mode. And, more importantly, access to the database is free for public.
The database is awash with information on five key areas including: education research, education policy, reform organizations, education technology, and philanthropic support.
Its content covers 13 key topics ranging from issues such as blended learning to teacher evaluations.
The aim behind setting up such a database is to allow audiences, such as researchers and advocates, to see the education landscape through multiple perspectives.
"In order to help the education community have a transformational impact on education, ERIN provides a multidisciplinary perspective that looks at the current educational environment and helps us identify where we can progress together," said Caprice Young, LJAF VP for Education Initiatives.
It can be used as a ‘ready-reckoner’ to know all about the education sector, and it also answers questions regarding reforms such as charter school effects on student performance and the laws shaping teaching and recruitment.
There is also information on the top 20 philanthropic organizations working to improve curriculum.
The Foundation said ‘some of the foremost experts in education’ had contributed to the creation of the ERIN Project in order to make it a functional information source.
"The ERIN Project assembled a leading group of scholars to survey the research on the most pressing and sometimes controversial issues in education policy. The result is an invaluable tool for policymakers, researchers, and the general public," said Jay P. Greene, Head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas.
The database, however, does not claim to offer the definitive answer on what works in education, but it provides easy access to resources so that people can make their own judgments based on the information available.
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Edited by Brooke Neuman