Resources
The human brain can only hold so much knowledge, so the key to success is knowing where to find information. Here are some of
our favorite sites (in no particular order). Check back for periodic updates.
Public education, Ohio
Ohio Department of Education home page (use the search feature to find stuff)
Ohio Education Directory (complete pdf), which can also be found on ODE's website by clicking here (posted 4/22/11)
Ohio public school district map, 4.5 meg pdf file, courtesy of PUCO (posted 4/22/11)
Cupp Report, data for all Ohio school districts in one large spreadsheet (posted 3/2/11)
(Cupp Report definitions, scroll about 1/5 of the way down the page)
School district employee contracts, contracts of every school district with their union, which is maintained by SERB
Ohio school district productivity index, a parent compares all Ohio school districts using her own formula (posted 4/25/11)
A reporter's advice to educators, from Marion Star reporter Kurt Moore (posted 11/19/11)
Public education, national
National School Public Relations Association, all school PR pros (and wannabes) should belong to NSPRA
Surveys, Studies and Evaluations, Interesting data posted on NSBA's Center for Public Education
Yahoo education news, today's education news
American Education Week resource page, courtesy of the NEA
National Center for Education Statistics, lots of national stats
NCES Kidszone, national stats for kids
Public Education Network, weekly stories on public ed
National Association for Single Sex Public Educations, source for info on all-boys or -girls schools or classrooms
National Access Network, promotes equal educational opportunities
National Association of State Budget Officers, resources for state budget makers
Learning First Alliance, positive school news
Early Care and Education Consortium, early childcare issues
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, follow the charter school movement
NSBA Board Buzz, daily education weblog
Center for Public Education, NSBA's public resource page on public ed
Center on Education Policy, an independent advocate for public schools (posted 7/28/11)
Government, Ohio
Ohio county boards of elections, the place to look for county election results
Ohio Revised Codes, search for state law affecting your schools
Ohio state government, portal to state government
Ohio Supreme Court, check for decisions and announcements
Ohio Board of Regents, higher ed news
Ohio Attorney General opinions on compatibility of office for elected officials in Ohio (posted 4/14/11)
State Treasurer Transparency Project, databases of state and local employees, including educators (posted 1/17/1)
Government, federal
Federal government communicators' guide, Government PR 101
National Conference of State Legislators, read what legislators are reading
Bureau of Labor Statistics, site to keep up on the labor market
The White House, learn what the President is saying about schools
U.S. Census Bureau, place to keep track of America's 311,013,979 (and counting) residents
Census Fact Finder, quick facts at your fingertips
U.S. Department of Education, read to learn Fed's perspective on education
U.S. Constitution, We the people...
FERPA guidance, guidance for students
Information
Pro Publica, facts about Ohio
Ohio Citizen Accounting Standards Board, citizen journalist site that features school district salaries and financial information
Did you know? thought provoking look at new media
ZIPskinny.com, easy-to-use Census data (unfortunately still 2000 data)
Population changes from 2000 to 2010, early 2010 US census data
Kids Count, state-by-state data for policy makers
Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, Coalition news
Phone area codes, want to know where that phone call is from
Technorati, track trends in new media use
News
Ohio news media, links and contact info to most Ohio media outlets
eSchool News, education tech news
Education Writers Association, organization for those who cover public education
Public Education Network, weekly survey of national education news
Production
PMS color conversion chart, table showing hex and RGB color equivalents for PMS colors (link fixed 6/24/11)
Crayola crayons colors conversion chart, want to use Macaroni and Cheese orange in print?
Color-hex code center, another color conversion tool
Color-scheme designer, handy tool to see what colors work together (posted 6/24/11)
Kuler, test which colors go together
Jewish holidays, help in scheduling dates
Calendar Home, a tool to create calendars
Microsoft reference guides, from Schreiner University
How to create an enhanced podcast (one with images), this site is a bit dated, but the information is still good
Textures, from the Mayang Company, which offers more than 4,200 free, high-resolution photos of a variety of textures (posted 10/20/11)
Photography
Photoshop help, from Adobe
Scanning tips, primer on scanning and understanding digital images
Photoshop tips and tricks, ways to improve your photoshopping
Stock photo resources, a variety of sources (updated 6/24/11)
CreativePro.com, assorted tips
Earthbound Light, an informative blog by a veteran photographer
Digital Photography School, tips and lessons from Down Under
Ken Rockwell, general camera recommendations
Digital Camera Reviews and DP Review, compare cameras
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, amazing (free) images of our earth
photofocus, web magazine
Strobist, flash photography blog by David Hobby, the Strobist®, from Columbus' own Midwest Photo Exchange
Hasselblad, download Phocus software for a free photoshop alternative
B&H Photo Video, great place to learn about camera equipment
Nikonians, Nikon lovers home (warning, you must join this organization to really benefit from this site)
Meters don't see 18 percent gray, photographer Tom Hagan disputes the notion that all photographers should use 18% gray cards for best exposure. Hagan offers lots of advice and reviews of Nikon cameras on his site.
World Panoramic Photos, amazing 360 degree photos from around the world
Nikon mobile app download from iTunes for great lessons on photography
Photoshop sharpening tutorial, Created for Life, an Australian photo lab, offers two ways to sharpen photos in CS5
Fixing blown-out highlights with Adobe Camera RAW, a video tutorial, which offers insight to using Adobe Camera RAW (posted 5/25/11)
Enlarging digital images through Adobe Camera RAW, interpolations guidelines for digital images from Corbis Images (posted 5/25/11)
Depth of field calculator, just plug in your camera, lens' focal length, f-stop and distance from camera to subject to learn how much depth of field you haves (posted 6/4/11)
Polarizing filters, improve your outdoor photographs significantly by using a polarizing filter (posted 7/11/11)
U.S. Government Photos and Images, site of some public domain photography
Speeches
David Meerman Scott speech tips, 10 tips for successful public speaking
Voice and Swallowing Institute, advice to help you prepare physically to give a speech
Brainy Quotes, fun quotes for publications and speeches
Quoteland.com, research tool for quotations
Elevator pitch, the importance of keeping your message simple
Randy Pausch's last lecture, inspirational speech
Wordsmithing
Ann Wylie, excellent advice on writing; be sure to subscribe to her eNewsletter
The Cost of Poor Writing, Plain Language at Work Newsletter -- I could not have said it better!
Visuwords, word play
One space after periods. Amen. (posted 9/26/11)
Other fun sites
National Geographic, cool stuff
Public Broadcasting Service, educational TV
Crisis Guru, Jim Lukaszewski's crisis management blog
Education Gadfly, a different perspective on public ed
Education Intelligence Agency, a different perspective on unions
Common Good, another perspective on public ed
Democratic National Committee, if you think politics affect public education, bookmark this site
Republican National Committee, if you think politics affect public education, bookmark this site
Project on Government Secrecy, they are hiding things from us
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, leading the fight to force government to operate in the sunshine (posted 5/24/11)
Open Government Guide, site compares state open government laws (link fixed 5/24/11)
Nielsen market segments, need to know the difference between young influentials and up-and-comers?
Eduwonk, a different perspective on public ed
Cre8tive Group, add/marketing agency with a unique philosophy
The Technium, ruminations on trends
We Think, YouTube video
Buckeye Institute, media savvy think tank
Your customers' social demographics generator, learn your communities social networking preferences
Bulldog Reporter's Daily 'Dog, PR news
Fair Use Guidelines For Educational Multimedia, what is fair use in schools?
Puzzlemaker, create criss-cross puzzles
Handy Latin phrases, spice up your speech with Latin
Opensecrets.org, follow the money in politics
Basic HTML skills every PR professional should have, learn some of the most common HTML codes (posted 5/24/11)
Gatorade Mission Control, learn how Gatorade strives to be the epicenter of the conversation
12 incredibly useful digital tools for PR, tips from Ragan.com
Disclaimer: We do not endorse any product or service listed in the above links. We just find them helpful in our day-to-day work. Please report any bad links. Enjoy!
