NAEAnews. “SPECIAL NEEDS,” April, 2002, Vol. 44 (2) p.17.
One goal of the Special Needs Issue Group is to provide information about special education resources. This column focuses on ERIC, the largest database of special education information. Jane Burnette is Publications Manager for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education at The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). Jane has provided us with the following information about ERIC and how to access its vast database.
Eric Provides Information and Resources
Ever need data to support your views to your principal? Want to know which organizations address learning disabilities? Need a quick bibliography of information for parents of students with disabilities? Turn to ERIC, the Educational Resources Information Center. Teachers, students, principals, and others use ERIC to explore best practices and instructional technology; find lesson plans; gather information for undergraduate and graduate courses; and to get practical information on topics such as class size, school vouchers, and school safety.
ERIC is a system of 16 federally-funded information clearing houses that review the literature in education and provide it to those who need it. The system abstracts articles, papers, books, guides and reports about education and provides these abstracts in a database that contains records on over one million documents on all topics in education. About 32,000 new documents are added each year. Copies of these documents can be purchased at nominal cost from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service.
The 16 Clearinghouses each address a different aspect of education. A list is shown in the sidebar. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education is operated by the Council for Exceptional Children. Like all ERIC Clearinghouses, it develops ERIC Digests, short syntheses of information on specific topics such as learning disabilities, homework strategies, access to the general education curriculum, or large-scale testing.Information Specialists are available to answer questions by telephone or over the Internet via Ask ERIC, a question-answering service that provides answers within 48 hours. Each ERIC Clearinghouse also has its own web site and toll-free number (See sidebar).
The ERIC database is available free in libraries throughout the world, on the Internet, and for purchase on disc. A resume for each document in the database provides complete bibliographic data and an abstract, as well as information to tell you how to get the document. You can search the database for information on any educational topic. “Structured Search” screens on the web allow you to enter the terms you're interested in, and then the computer will list the relevant documents. You can select those that most interest you for a look at the abstracts.
If you prefer to conduct a more advanced search, you can use the ERIC Thesaurus of Descriptors to direct your search. To do this, first write your topic in your own words, then divide it into major concepts and locate the appropriate subject descriptors for each concept in the Thesaurus. The computer will create sets of information based on the way you tell it to combine the subject descriptors. For example, to find out about teachers' attitudes towards multiage grouping in primary grades, you could use the following descriptors:
teacher attitudes
mixed age grouping
primary education
If you want to find documents that contain all three of these concepts, use the “and” command, i.e., enter teacher attitudes and mixed age grouping and primary education. This will produce the smallest, most specific set of information. If you want more information on the topic, use the “or” command (teacher attitudes or mixed age grouping or primary education). This will result in a set of documents that contain any of these three items.
For help locating the best place for you to search ERIC, call 1-800-LET-ERIC. If you need help planning your database search, call the clearinghouse that covers your topic of interest.
Thanks to Jane Burnette for sharing information that both explains and guides the use of the ERIC database system. Please let me know of other special education topics that would interest you. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Special Needs Issues Group, please contact me (note corrected fax and phone numbers).
ERIC CLEARINGHOUSES
Adult, Career, and Vocational Education
Toll Free: (800) 848-4815
Phone: (614) 292-7069
TTY/TTD: (614) 688-8734
Fax: (614) 292-1260
E-mail:ericacve@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu
Web: http://ericacve.org
ASSESSMENT and EVALUATION
Toll Free: (800) GO4-ERIC (464-3742)
Phone: (301) 405-7449
Fax: (301) 405-8134
E-mail:ericae@ericae.net
Web: http://ericae.net
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Toll Free: (800) 832-8256
Phone: (310) 825-3931
Fax: (310) 206-8095
E-mail:ericcc@ucla.edu
Web: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/ERIC/eric.html
COUNSELING and STUDENT SERVICES
Toll Free: (800) 414-9769
Phone: (336) 334-4114
Fax: (336) 334-4116
E-mail:ericcass@uncg.edu
Web: http://ericcass@uncg.edu
DISABILITIES and GIFTED
Toll Free: (800) 328-0272
TDD/TTY: (800) 328-0272
E-mail:ericec@cec.sped.org
Web: http://ericec.org
EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
Toll Free: (800) 438-8841
Phone: (541) 346-5043
Fax: (541) 346-2334
E-mail:ppiele@Oregon.uoregon.edu
Web: http://eric.uoregon.edu
ELEMENTARY and EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Toll Free: (800) 583-4135
Phone: (217)-333-1386
Fax: (217) 333-3767
E-mail:ericeece@uiuc.edu
Web: http://ericeece.org
HIGHER EDUCATION
Toll Free: (800) 773-3742
Phone: (202) 296-2597
Fax: (202) 452-1844
E-mail:lcavell@eric-he.edu
Web: http://www.eriche.org
INFORMATION and TECHNOLOGY
Toll Free: (800) 464-9107
Phone: (315) 443-3640
Fax: (315) 443-5448
E-mail:eric@ericir.sur.edu/ithome
Web: http://ericir.syr.edu/ithome
AskERIC Web:http://www.askeric.org
LANGUAGES and LINGUISTICS
Toll Free: (800) 276-9834
Phone: (202) 362-0700
Fax: (202) 362-7204
E-mail:eric@cal.org
Web: http://www.cal.org/ericcll
READING , ENGLISH, and COMMUNICATION
Toll Free: (800) 759-4723
Phone: (812) 855-5847
Fax: (812) 856-5512
E-mail:ericcs@Indiana.edu
Web: http://www.Indiana.edu/~eric_rec
RURAL EDUCATION and SMALL SCHOOLS
Toll Free: (800) 624-9120
Phone: (304) 347-0400
TTY/TDD: (304)347-0448
Fax: (304) 347-0467
E-mail:ericrc@ael.org
Web: http://www.ael.org/eric
SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, and ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Toll Free: (800) 276-0462
Phone: (614) 292-6717
Fax: (614) 292-0263
E-mail:ericse@osu.edu
Web: http://www.ericse.org
SOCIAL STUDIES/ SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
Toll Free: (800) 266-3815
Phone: (812) 855-3838
Fax: (812) 855-0455
E-mail:ericso@Indiana.edu
Web: http://www.Indiana.edu/~ssdc/eric_chess.htm
TEACHING and TEACHER EDUCATION
Toll Free: (800) 822-9229
Phone: (202) 293-2450
Fax: (202) 457-8095
E-mail:query@aacte.org
Web: http://www.ericsp.org
URBAN EDUCATION
Toll Free: (800) 601-4868
Phone: (212) 678-3433
Fax: (212) 678-3433
E-mail:eric-cue@columbia.edu
Web: http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu
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