Demographic data from the most recent Census of Population and Housing (2000), and, when available, updated information from the American Community Survey (2006) which provides information on languages spoken at home.  Search by city, county, zip code, etc.

Compare local accents in the online version of the Atlas of North American English. The images are better in McCabe's the print atlas.

To listen to audio clips, click on Analyses - Analysis of Audio Data. Audio files are organized by city name.

Be sure to take a look at this resource which provides very interesting data. You can find out how many languages are spoken in your home community, or any community. Search by county or zipcode to compare linguistic diversity in the United States.

Offers access to reports and interactive maps for the U.S. Census, 1790 through 2000.You can compare the county or local demographics to find out if your school demographics are similar to those of the community.Under Reports, select Social Explorer Estimates to narrow your data to census tract level.

From the Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, the NCES is "the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education."  Under the Data Tools tab, you can search for information by Public School Districts, Public School, or Private School, and find data related to enrollment, the number of staff, and the district's financial profile and educational expenditures.

Annual achievement report for Pennsylvania schools. You can search by district or school name to find data related to test scores, student achievement, and school performance.

Search for your school's "report card" from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and the PA Department of Education.  Under "school details," you can get interesting information like attendance figures, the number of books in the library, and college entrance exam scores.  One caveat: the most recent data appears to be from 2000-2001, so stick to NCES for current enrollment statistics. Also, when searching by the name of the school, leave off "high school," "elementary school," etc.--for example, just search for "Norristown Area" instead of "Norristown Area High School."

Newspaper collections from NewsBank provide full-text articles from the electronic editions of record for more than 700 newspapers around the globe, including the NY Times (2000-present). Database covers 1977-present.  You can limit your search to Pennsylvania newspapers.

Offers full-text articles from newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. In English and Spanish, it offers additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream press. Covers 1990-present.

Use the Advanced Search screen to limit your search by location and or dates.

Provides abstracts to journal articles and ERIC Digest records on all aspects of education. Many digest records are in full-text. Covers 1966-present.

Contains abstracts of the world's literature in linguistics and language-related research, including journal articles, books, book reviews, dissertations and some conference proceedings. Covers all aspects of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology,syntax and semantics. Includes historical, comparative, theoretical and social linguistics and related disciplines such as anthropology, education, and ethnology. Covers 1973-present.

Created by the Writing Lab at Purdue University, this web site provides concise information on APA Guidelines, writing guidelines and citation &  bibliography examples.

McCabe Reference BF76 .7 .P83 2001