The Kraus Curriculum Development Library is now kcdl online

1. The Kraus Curriculum Development Library is nowkcdlonline An absolute necessity for educators

2. What iskcdlonline? kcdlonline is a searchable database that provides you with curriculum information on a variety of subjects covered in PreK-12 and Adult Basic Education. With a growing database of over 5,000 curriculum documents, kcdlonline provides you with a direct link to the curricula you need and contact information on the agencies that issue the curricula.

3. System Requirements & Methods of Access • Best viewed using IE 4.x, Netscape 4.x and higher versions of both web browsers • Minimum 32 megabytes of memory, but 64 megabytes is recommended because of the size of some of the PDF files on the site • As with all Web services, best viewed when using a DSL Internet connection or higher • IP address verification (example: ##.###.*.*) • Proxy servers • User ID and Password • Customer Support available 8am-5pm EST, M-F

4. What are the curricula sources?We are in contact with thousands of agencies and curricula developers, including: • State Depts. of Education and other Government Agencies • Colleges and Universities • School Districts and Schools • Regional Educational Consortia • Special Projects within Schools • Associations and other Non-Profit Organizations • We monitor news, Education Week and other industry sources for leads • We’ve developed relationships with many suppliers who send us new curricula as it’s developed

5. What are the selection criteria? • Currency (within past 3 years) • Content Requirements (consists of primary section(s), educational content, meets grade level criteria, etc.) • Quality • Geographic Distribution • Curricula from state departments of education are always included, as they establish the standards in each state

6. How is the curricula collected? • We maintain an ever-growing “Developers File” consisting of past, present and possible future curriculum contributors • We analyze the last edition for state/subject strengths and weaknesses • We contact developers via phone, mail, email and fax (letters and permission forms are sent to potential contributors requesting curricula) • We check curricula received for content, quality of print, pagination, blank pages, etc. • We write and enter data into a new document record

7. Whykcdlonline? • Development of curricula and standards is more important than ever • Tracking down the latest curricula is time-consuming • With kcdlonline educators, curriculum developers, and other researchers can gain easy access to the resources they need to implement educational strategies and objectives, and improve learning in PreK-12 schooling

8. Benefits ofkcdlonline • Have easy access to over 5,000 curriculum documents from all across the English-speaking world • Draw upon a host of developed curricula to help improve existing curricula or to create a new set • Learn what standards have been adopted by different states and school districts • Search for specific curricula by subject, keywords, forms of educational content, grades covered, and geographic location

9. More Benefits ofkcdlonline • Save time in tracking down the newest curricula and standards • Access the full text of hundreds of curricula documents, covering all subjects and all grade levels • Identify and retrieve the documents which are most relevant to your project • Keep current via monthly updates

10. You can search for: • Curricula, frameworks and standards • Lessons and learning activities • Educational objectives • Educational content • Instructional strategies • Evaluative techniques • Information in kcdlonline covers all disciplines, subjects, and grade levels found in PreK-12th grade education and Adult Basic Education • Users can limit their searches to only those records with full text documents attached

11. Annotation Subjects Educational Content Name & Address of Issuing Agency Phone of Issuing Agency Fax of Issuing Agency Email of Issuing Agency Issuing Agency URL (if available) Primary Section Title Year Collation (# of pages) KCDL Edition Document Number PDF/Fiche Availability Document URL (if available) Grades Covered What information is included in a typical entry?

24. How does kcdlonline compare to ERIC’s *eSubscribe product? “The primary value lies in the approachability of the subject headings, the ease of combining attributes, and the selectivity of the Kraus documents. To achieve the same level of specificity in searching curriculum documents, ERIC searchers would need to have very good searching skills, incredible tenacity to experiment with the many different descriptors for educational content, and a good understanding of the application of ERIC descriptors for educational level. The organizing structure of records in the KCDL corresponds more readily than the ERIC descriptors to practices of curriculum description in schools, in school districts, in state agencies and in schools of education.”

25. kcdlonline vs. ERIC (cont’d) “A review of several similarly-constructed searches in ERIC and KCDL found that often more records were retrieved in ERIC, but wading through them for the specified curriculum attributes available in the Kraus searches required a large investment of time. Many of the ERIC documents were more peripherally related to curriculum despite the use of appropriate ERIC publication types and descriptors.”

26. kcdlonline vs. ERIC (cont’d) “The KCDL is a tremendously useful resource for an education library…While similar curriculum content is available through the ERIC documents, KCDL has maintained a selected, targeted, well-described collection. The level of curriculum description and the ease of focused searching in KCDL significantly distinguish it from ERIC.” --The Charleston Advisor, January 2002

27. More praise forkcdlonline “KCDLonline is wonderful! Having managed a curriculum materials center for many years, I know how hard it has been to provide access to a wide variety of curriculum publications. KCDLonline makes this access a breeze as it is constantly adding full text availability to new publications from many different sources. Its search engine allows easy combination searching for such areas as grade, subject, type, date, and location. This product fills a real need.” --Gary Lare, PhD., Head, Curriculum Resources Center, University of Cincinnati, and author of Acquiring and Organizing Curriculum Materials

28. How much does it cost? • Annual subscriptions for academic institutions range in price from $800 to $1,850, based on student FTE • Consortium discounts are available

29. What comes with a subscription? • One year’s access to over 1000 full text documents, with more being added every month • One year’s access to the online version of the KCDL Cumulative Index 1983-2003 (detailed descriptions and availability information for thousands of curricula and standards, including links to agency and document URLs where available) • A paper copy of the current edition’s index • A paper copy of the current edition’s shelflist • Monthly usage statistics

30. Contact Information • Sales Questions: Alec Cunningham, Marketing Specialist 1-800-416-4385, x268 • Customer Service & Trial Inquiries: Evie Duncan, KCDL Manager 1-800-416-4374 Mary Heffernan, Editorial Assistant 1-800-416-4385, x284 • Curricula, Developers & Content Inquiries: Evie Duncan, KCDL Manager 1-800-416-4374 Mary Heffernan, Editorial Assistant 1-800-416-4385, x284 • Technical Support Inquiries: Tamera Wells-Lee, Director of Publishing 1-800-416-4385, x312 • All Other Inquiries: Bruce Samuelson, Director of Marketing 1-800-416-4385, x308 • All can be reached via email at info@kcdlonline.com • All can be reached via fax at 1-800-865-3450 • URL is http://www.kcdlonline.com