| Latest
News (K-12 Databases)
The Texas Education Agency's technology allotment
will continue to fund the K-12 databases in the upcoming
biennium. This funding is at the same level as last
biennium. As with the TexShare database program, the
rising costs for database products means that our dollars
will not stretch as far. We will ask our commission
to direct some federal dollars to this program, somewhat
mitigating the impact of the shortfall in state funding,
but this will still not cover escalating costs. We will
make every attempt to retain database content in the
K-12 program, but we will have to scale back dramatically
on training and support. TSLAC will work with the K-12
Transition Task Force, ESC-20
, TEA, and
the database vendors to maximize the training dollars
that are available.
Online research and information resources are available
through a partnership between the Texas State Library
and Archives Commission, the
Texas Education Agency and Education Service Center,
Region 20.
School Communities have state-funded quality online
instructional resources available now. Take full advantage
of this K-12 Databases program opportunity, now starting
its second year.
Access: The login screen for these
resources is located at http://web.esc20.net/access.
From this webpage, students, educators and students’
immediate families have access to the following collections:
- A comprehensive collection of full text periodicals,
biographies, primary source documents, essays, almanacs,
reference books, pamphlets, newspapers, transcripts,
photos, maps and more. These 34 databases provided
by EBSCO Publishing are accessible through user-friendly,
grade level interfaces -Searchasaurus, Kids Search,
and Student Research Center.
- Four encyclopedias in English and two in Spanish
provided by Encyclopaedia Britannica that contain
over 124,000 articles plus photos, illustrations,
maps, and videos. Included also are interactive learning
materials, teacher resources, a world atlas, dictionary,
and a thesaurus. All materials are aligned to state
curriculum standards and benchmarks.
Training: We invite school communities
to take advantage of numerous no cost training opportunities
(face-to-face, online and via videoconference) to become
more familiar with the K-12 Databases. Surf over to:
http://web.esc20.net/k12databases/training.html
to check the Master Training Calendar and access instructions
for online training module registration. Check with
your local ESC for further training opportunities.
Classroom Integration: The K-12
Databases website includes a collection of inquiry-based
lessons for all grade levels that can be used on campus
to integrate these rich resources into the curriculum
(Instructional Recipes).
Share this information with staff and colleagues, promote
the use of K-12 Databases at the campus or district
level, and learn how these quality resources support
21st Century leading, teaching and learning.
Thank you for your support! (View
this information in a pdf file.)
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