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SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today unveiled an innovative Web portal that enables the sharing of best practices in the middle school classroom through the use of technology.

At Friday's opening session of the California League of Middle School's annual conference in Sacramento, O'Connell pressed the button to officially launch the dynamic new communications tool for middle school educators.

"The Web portal is a major step forward in ensuring success and closing the achievement gap for all of California's middle grade students. This rich resource is full of relevant, time-honored ideas and practical solutions, and is available 24/7 at no additional cost to our schools," said O'Connell.

In his State of Education address in January, O'Connell announced a reorganization of the California Department of Education (CDE) to help focus efforts on closing the achievement gap. One goal is to have the department become a "broker of expertise" by gathering all available educational research that meets high standards and to develop workable strategies specific to the needs of California's diverse schools.

The new Web portal: Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII), Ensuring Success and Closing the Achievement Gap for All of California's Middle Grades Students, was developed by CDE's Middle and High School Improvement Office — and is a first example of the Brokers of Expertise program and the type of information the department can gather and disseminate to educators and administrators throughout the state and beyond.

The Web portal is a dynamic, interactive resource for middle level educators built on 12 recommendations for middle level educators that are organized by four focus areas: academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structures and processes.

TCSII utilizes the latest technology, delivering hyperlinked research-based content, vignettes of school practices and provides a connection to middle grades organizations. Members of the California Middle Grades Alliance partnered with the CDE to produce the recommendations and assisted in the development of the portal.

"I believe this program is a star maker for middle school teachers," said Peter Murphy, Executive Director of the California League of Middle Schools. "With this resource, every school will have the opportunity to share with others across the state and the nation practices that are working in the middle school classroom. This Web-based tool will become the standard for all other resources in education."

"I am excited about having a one-stop place to shop for middle grades educators to find standards-based teaching practices that are current, tested, and proven to work," said Creig Nicks, President of the Middle Grades Educators Council, a branch of the Association of California School Administrators. "Teachers no longer will be required to reinvent the wheel with every lesson but will be able to take teaching to the next level."

In 2001 Taking Center Stage published the 300-page Taking Center Stage: A Commitment to Standards-based Education for California's Middle Grades Students that was distributed to schools and county and district superintendents. Taking Center Stage – Act II, which was four years in the making, contains more than 1,000 pages of information that will continue to change an be updated as new research becomes available and schools share their own expertise with one another.

"I am convinced that by providing easy access to research-based information and promising educational practices that engage young adolescents, middle level educators will inspire their students to become lifelong learners," said O'Connell.

To access the TCSII Web portal, go to: Taking Center Stage - Act II.