For teachers, the Internet could be a treasure trove of information for their classes. The biggest challenge has been separating out trusted resources and finding the best material for a particular class or age group.

With the new Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) Web site, teachers may have their answers. Educators can use GEM to search for particular topics, classified by grade level, from over 140 reviewed educational sites.

GEM is a product of the U.S. Department of Education's National Library of Education, in partnership with the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology at Syracuse University.

"The Web puts many thousands of learning resources within reach of anyone with Internet access," says Education Secretary Richard Riley. "It's no surprise that one of the most popular uses of this new medium, among teachers, is searching for resources that can help students learn. But finding the right resource on a particular topic for your students can take time. And time is in short supply for our teachers. That's one reason GEM is so important."

Another site, called Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE), also run by the Department of Education, allows searches of federal government materials for education. GEM concentrates on outside sources of information, while FREE also differs from GEM by not separating materials out by grade level.

GEM will be modified further to allow searches based on state academic standards as well, the Department of Education reports.

Full text of this press release is currently found at:
http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/12-1999/newweb.html