Grant to Help UCI Start Schools Network

UC Irvine, supported by a new $150,000 grant, is poised to become a global clearinghouse for innovative teaching and research programs that are transforming public schools internationally.

The Ford Motor Co. pledged $150,000 over three years to fund the Successful Schools Network, an Internet-based program that will be developed and maintained by the UC Irvine department of education.

Through a World Wide Web site, UC Irvine will provide information on education research, programs and new teaching approaches that are helping to transform public schools.

The site will feature links to individual schools’ Web pages as well as electronic “chat” programs that will allow teachers, parents, administrators and researchers to exchange ideas and information.

“While conventional wisdom holds that America’s K-12 education system is a virtual failure, that’s simply not true,” said Department of Education Chairman Louis F. Miron, who will oversee development of the Successful Schools Network.

“Research shows that a number of neighborhood schools across the nation and, in fact, the world, are effective. The task for researchers is to tell these stories. These success stories outnumber the failures.”

Though located at UC Irvine, the center will benefit from the talents of an advisory board of professors and researchers at institutions throughout the world, from UCLA to Beit Berl College in Israel to Roehampton Institute in London, Miron said.

Information: (714) 824-5117.