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Political Science *

Below are links to databases and scholarly web sites that support the study of political science and its related sub-disciplines.

Educational Policy Research Resources

Below are links to databases and electronic resources that support the study of education policy and related areas of research. For additional resources, GO HERE.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Databases that offer multidisciplinary coverage of education policy literature from scholarly and non-scholarly sources.

  • CQ Researcher --   in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Reports are published weekly 44 times a year.
  • Google Scholar -- the scholarly part of the Google empire. To set up Google Scholar with access to full-text journals and databases, go here.
  • JSTOR -- a multidisciplinary archive of scholarly journal articles covering most major disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Useful for identifying historical research on a topic.
  • Policy Commons -- platform for objective, fact-based research from the world’s leading policy experts, nonpartisan think tanks, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The database provides advanced searching across millions of pages of books, articles, working papers, reports, policy briefs, data sets, tables, charts, media, case studies, and statistical publications, including archived reports from more than 200 defunct think tanks.
  • ProQuest -- comprehensive, multidisciplinary database of newspaper, magazine, and scholarly journal articles updated daily. Content is more focused and manageable than Google Scholar.

SPECIALIZED RESEARCH RESOURCES

Key Databases

  • ERIC -- database is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational research literature. Coverage of journal articles, conferences, meetings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, books and monographs Coverage is from 1966 to the present.
  • Educational Administration Abstracts -- provides indexing and abstracting for articles in more than 100 journals related to the administration of primary, secondary and post-secondary educational facilities and programs. Subjects covered include personnel, curriculum, school-community relations, supervision, minority group relations, and professional education. Coverage is from 2003 to the present.
  • Education Index Retrospective -- indexes more than 800 periodicals and yearbooks, and cites approximately 850,000 articles, including book reviews from 1929-1983. Subject coverage includes, for example, adult education, continuing education, literacy standards, multicultural/ethnic education, teaching methods. Access to the database is limited to three simultaneous users.

Related Research Resources

  • Child Development and Adolescent Studies -- provides citations to current and historical social and behavioral sciences literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21, including book reviews, abstracts from hundreds of journals, technical reports, books, book chapters, and theses and dissertations.
  • Family Studies Abstracts -- this database includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to family studies, including marriage, divorce, family therapy, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. May be useful in identifying research on the relationships between education and family dynamics.
  • PsycINFO -- database with more than three million records devoted to peer-reviewed literature of journal articles, chapters, books, dissertations and reports in psychology, the behavioral sciences, and mental health.

  • Sociological Abstracts -- primary resource for accessing the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database draws information from an international selection of over 2,600 journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and doctoral dissertations.

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

Databases that offer the opportunity to understand and contemplate the implications of policy decisions through the eyes of those who may be most impacted by those decisions.

  • Chicano Database -- bibliographic index focuses on the Mexican-American and Chicano experience, and the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central American immigrants since 1992. Covers Chicano/a art, education, folklore, health. history, labor, language and literature, music, politics, public policy, religion, sociology, and women's studies.
  • Ethnic NewsWatch -- includes current and archival coverage of newspapers, magazines and journals from ethnic and minority presses. Very important database for gaining a perspective and an understanding of civic engagement from underrepresented groups and minorities.
  • GenderWatch -- a full-text database that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas. Publications include academic and scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, booklets and pamphlets, conference proceedings, and government, NGO and special reports.
  • LGBT Life -- the premier resource to the world\'s literature regarding Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Transsexual issues with coverage that includes traditional academic, lifestyle, and regional publications, as well as non-periodical content such as non-fiction books, bibliographies and dissertations.

DATA AND STATISTICS

  • College Scorecard -- highlights key indicators about the cost and value of higher education institutions across the country. Key indicators include: academic programs, SAT/ACT scores, costs, financial aid & debt (including cohort default rates), graduation and retention rates, student body statistics, earnings after school.
  • Condition of Education -- provides key indicators of the condition of education in the United States. These indicators summarize important developments and trends using the latest statistics and are updated as data become available. A Congressionally mandated annual report is provided to the White House and Congress each year.
  • ED Data Inventory -- describes all data, including links to NCES data, reported to the U.S. Department of Education, with the exception of personnel and administrative data. It includes data collected as part of grant activities, along with statistical data collected to allow publication of valuable statistics about the state of education in this country. The ED Data Inventory includes descriptive information about each data collection, along with information on the specific data elements in individual collections.
  • Federal Student Aid Data Center -- produced by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid, the site includes links to student aid data and school data pertaining to Title IV programs.
  • IPEDS -- this is the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, a system of interrelated surveys conducted annually by the U.S. Department’s National Center for Education Statistics. IPEDS gathers information from every college, university, and technical and vocational institution that participates in the federal student financial aid programs.
  • National Assessment of Educational Progress -- a congressionally mandated project since 1969, the agency provides common measures what U.S. students know and can do in mathematics, reading, science, and many other subjects across the nation, states, and in some urban districts.
  • National Center for Education Statistics -- the most comprehensive educational data resource in the United States, NCES is the statistical data arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and the central clearinghouse for statistical information about education of all types.

Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.

Organizations

Below is a select list of national education advocacy organizations. To locate descriptions of additional organizations, special interest groups, and research centers, search the Gale Directory Library database.

NATIONAL ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS

  • American Association of University Professors -- devoted to advancing academic freedom and shared governance; to defining professional values and standards for higher education; promoting the economic security of all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; and ensuring higher education's contribution to the common good.
  • American Council on Education -- consisting of more than 1700 institutional members from colleges and universities of all types, ACE is the major representative of higher education to members of Congress and is especially involved in making its voice heard in Federal policy debates on education.
  • Association for Institutional Research -- a global association that empowers higher education professionals at all levels to utilize data, analytics, information, and evidence to make decisions and take actions that benefit students and institutions and improve higher education.
  • Center on Reinventing Public Education -- a nonpartisan research center that offers evidence-based ideas to improve education by ensuring all students are prepared for a rapidly changing future. The center conducts research and policy analysis to help educators, policymakers, civic and community leaders, parents, and students themselves re-imagine education systems and structures.
  • College Board -- membership association made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools.
  • EdBuild -- works directly with stakeholders in states across the country to modernize school funding systems through the application of data and policy analysis, creating interactive modeling tools, and making recommendations related to implementation.
  • EdSource -- aims to engage Californians on key education challenges with the goal of enhancing learning success. It does so by providing timely, useful and accurate information to key education stakeholders and the larger public;  advancing awareness of major education initiatives being implemented in California and nationally; and, highlighting effective models and strategies intended to improve student outcomes, as well as identifying areas that are in need of repair or reform.
  • Education Redesign Lab -- advances a vision for public education that addresses the failure to break the correlation between socio-economic status and education outcomes. The group advocates for a comprehensive system of supports and opportunities that begin at early childhood and continue through to higher education and/or career training, focusing on research, field work, and coalition building and policy change.
  • Education Trust -- a national nonprofit that works to close opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and students from low-income families. Through research and advocacy, the organization supports efforts to expand excellence and equity in education from preschool through college, increase college access and completion particularly for historically underserved students, engage diverse communities dedicated to education equity, and increase political and public will to act on equity issues.
  • Educational Testing Service -- conducts assessment and policy research and develops assessments and related services to advance quality and equity in learning worldwide related to five broad areas of expertise: research, assessment development, test administration, test scoring, and instructional products and services.
  • Institute for Higher Education Policy -- a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to promoting access to and success in higher education for all students. IHEP develops innovative policy- and practice-oriented research to guide policymakers and education leaders who develop high-impact policies that will address our nation’s most pressing education challenges.
  • Learning Policy Institute -- a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that conducts and communicates research to improve education policy and practice. The Institute connects policymakers and stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels with the evidence, ideas, and actions needed to strengthen the education system from preschool through college and career readiness.
  • National Center for Learning Disabilities -- the mission of NCLD is to improve the lives of children and adults nationwide with learning and attention issues by empowering parents and young adults, transforming schools, and advocating for equal rights and opportunities.
  • National Center on Education and the Economy -- benchmarks the world’s top-performing education systems to understand how they reach higher levels of student achievement with much greater equity than schools in the U.S. These insights serve as the foundation of NCEE’s work with state and district leaders to build tailored strategies that are informed by and adapted to their unique contexts.
  • National Education Association -- an organization of public school administrators in rural and small-town America started to represent public school teachers The NEA is incorporated as a labor union in many states and as a professional organization in a few others.
Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.