Sources at your fingertips!

Sorry (if you cared) that I was silent this last week, but in reality I was not quiet at all; I was taking part in EWA’s annual conference in San Francisco. I have many thoughts from there to share with you, but first let me tell you about a great new EWA resource we announced at the meeting: a searchable database of more than 1,000 sources on children and education, with full contact information, links to their websites and information about their areas of expertise. You can access it by clicking “Source Search” on the EWA homepage, or go straight to (and bookmark!) ewa.org/sources.

You will see two databases, one for early childhood through high school (“P-12”) and one for higher education. To search by keyword, affiliation, location and so on, click “General search.” Or you can click to get lists by topic and last name. I am not in love with the interface—make sure to scroll down fully to see all your results!

This is a work in progress; it is basically a version of the source list I have been building for more than a decade, so it can be a bit idiosyncratic as a result. It will be greatly improved by users submitting new sources (after you see they are not on there already) and suggesting modifications to existing sources.

Let me know if a keyword you type in turns up blanks. It may be for lack of identified experts, or because of the wording. We have identified synonyms for the prevailing terminology we chose—for example, typing “ESOL” will return results for “English language learners”—but may be missing important ones.

I am still always available to help you identify the right sources for your work, but at times this may be the most efficient first step. Enjoy, and spread the word!