Sample Congressional letter of support for ERIC Clearinghouses, 4/18/03


The Honorable Rod Paige
Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
Room Number: 7W301
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20202

Hi All
Here's the copy for the sample letter
Linda

(and for those unfamiliar with ERIC, check it out at http://www.eric.ed.gov/

The primary audience for ERIC was teachers, to use as a clearinghouse for
educational materials.
 It has become an invaluable resource for preservice and inservice teachers
to use in researching topics of study.

I see two connections to informal educators....
1) finding out what has been done in our fields from the classroom side to
help us with our program and material development,

 2) using it if we're doing any research on our institutions as part of the
literature review.

I'm pursuing a doctorate in education using the exhibits here at Shedd as my
data set so I use ERIC a lot.


     Linda Wilson
     Manager, Audience Research and Evaluation
     John G. Shedd Aquarium
     1200 S. Lake Shore Drive
     Chicago, IL 60605
     PH (312) 692 3261  FAX (312) 939 8677     [log in to unmask]


Dear Mr. Secretary,

I was very pleased to see in the President's FY 2004 budget request for the
US Department of Education that he proposes to continue the ERIC
Clearinghouse system. Through my own direct experience with (name the
clearinghouse) I can personally attest to the great benefits this system
provides to educators, policy makers and parents alike.

I am deeply disappointed to learn, however, that in the recently published
draft Scope of Work for the next round of competitions for the system you
have chosen to dismantle the current 16-clearinghouse infrastructure. I
strongly urge you to reconsider this approach and reinstate the highly
effective "distributed" structure. This structure not only enables the
system to take full advantage of expertise wherever it might be located
throughout the country, but also promotes personalized customer service,
more consumer choices and better access to a broad base of information.

I believe that ERIC should be positioned as an essential multi-media
knowledge base that directly supports the Department of Education's fourth
goal in your strategic plan to transform education into an evidence-based
field.  I applaud you for this ambitious goal and I hope that you recognize
the critical role that ERIC should assume in this challenging
transformation.

I am sure you will agree that, in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act
and the recent passage of the Education Sciences Reform Act, the need has
never been greater for our teachers and parents to have ready access to a
comprehensive knowledge base on education. The ERIC system is a vital part
of our nationwide effort to leave no child behind.

I look forward to hearing from you soon about these strong suggestions for
modifying the Scope of Work.

Sincerely


Congressperson/Senator


     Linda Wilson
     Manager, Audience Research and Evaluation
     John G. Shedd Aquarium
     1200 S. Lake Shore Drive
     Chicago, IL 60605
     PH (312) 692 3261  FAX (312) 939 8677     [log in to unmask]

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