New Database Allows Parents, Teachers, and Students to Find the Remote, Digital, and Microschooling Tools They Need
CER’s Essential Education database is searchable by grade, subject, format, and price.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new database of education resources helps people sort through the dizzying array of learning tools that aim to smooth the transition from in-person, traditional learning to remote, digital, and microschooling environments.
Built and hosted by the Center for Education Reform, the “Essential Education” database consists of resources that have been vetted by CER, a nonprofit that works to expand educational opportunities to ensure all have access to productive futures.
“Over the past year, parents have been forced to D.I.Y.-teach, while teachers have been forced to overhaul everything from their curricula to their capabilities,” said Jeanne Allen, CER’s founder and chief executive. “Meanwhile, students continue to struggle. CER’s unparalleled database offers these folks information they can trust and a way to navigate our new reality.”
For example, imagine that you’re the parent of an elementary-school student who needs help with reading. You’re interested only in online programs. Select those criteria, and “Essential Education” will present options that fit your needs (in this case, 26).
Want to create your own pandemic pod? “Essential Education” has options for early ed, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school.
Those options range from well-known names such as Dictionary.com, Khan Academy, and Scholastic to lesser-known tools such as eTAP, Outschool, and Why America?
There’s no charge or gate to use “Essential Education”; all the information is free and public.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.