 |
||
| Castle,
Whitehurst, and the NRC Look to Improving Education Research
Ass’t Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Introduced to Research Community New OERI Head Shares His Agenda for Education Research House Panel Discusses OERI Reauthorization OERI Testifies Before Appropriations Congress and the Administration Talk Education; Details Pending
|
2001 Compilation of stories on theOffice
of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) Dec.
10, 2001 Castle, Whitehurst, and the NRC Look to Improving Education Research With the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization on the verge of completion, the education research community is looking to next year. The reauthorization of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) is overdue, and Congress will likely take this up next year. With this in mind, the improvement of education research was discussed at the November 30 meeting of the National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board (NERPPB). The meeting featured both Assistant Secretary Russ Whitehurst and House Education Reform Subcommittee Chair Michael Castle (R-DE) sharing their goals and recommendations for OERI reauthorization, as well as an overview of the findings of the National Research Council’s (NRC) Committee on Scientific Principles in Education Research. The Chairman’s View Castle, who sponsored a bill (H.R. 4875) to reauthorize OERI in the last session of Congress, told the Board what he would like to see in next year’s legislation. Authorizers must decide on the position of OERI (or whatever succeeds it) in the federal government. Last year’s bill originally called for making OERI an independent agency and moving it outside the Department of Education. Castle now envisions a “National Academy” that would remain in the Department, but have autonomy and “insulat[ion] from partisan influence.” He offered the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Congressional Research Service as models to emulate. Castle also discussed a range of other issues that might be addressed in future legislation. He advocated opening up research contracts to a wider group; continuing to coordinate with other agencies (like NSF and NIH) on interagency initiatives; ensuring that program evaluations are impartial; and paying closer attention to funding issues. Whitehurst Pushes Field-Initiated Studies Assistant Secretary for Research and Evaluation Russ Whitehurst also discussed his priorities, some of which he reiterated from previous talks (see Update, October 22, 2001). Of particular interest to education
researchers, Whitehurst suggested the office might evaluate the current
balance between field-initiated research (20 percent) and research
conducted at the Centers (80 percent), commenting that the field-initiated
component might deserve a boost. This,
he said, would help to attract and retain research expertise. NRC Releases Recommendations NERPPB asked the National Research Council (NRC) to create a committee to consider the scientific underpinnings of research in education (see Update, March 23, 2001). Comprised of a broad group of researchers and practitioners, the committee began meeting in the fall of 2000. The request was prompted, in part, by skepticism and debate about the quality and applicability of education research. The goals of the 15-month project were to inform reauthorization of OERI and the ongoing push for “evidence-based policy and practice” and “scientifically-based education research,” and spark self-reflection in the education research field. The committee’s charge, according to study director Lisa Towne, was not to comprehensively evaluate existing research, researchers, or OERI itself, but to consider the scientific nature of education research more broadly, and how a federal agency could best support high-quality science. Their “consensus report” was released on November 29. It discusses the nature of scientific research and the application of scientific principles to education. Of more direct applicability to OERI reauthorization, however, the report outlines the committee’s consensus on design principles for fostering science in a federal education research agency. Six design principles resulted: 1. Staff the agency with people skilled in science, leadership, and management. 2. Create structures to guide the research agenda, inform funding decisions, and monitor work. 3. Insulate the agency from inappropriate political interference. 4. Develop a focused and balanced portfolio of research that addresses short-, medium-, and long-term issues of importance to policy and practice. 5. Adequately fund the agency. 6. Invest in research infrastructure. The details of these recommendations and the full report are available at http://books.nap.edu/ books/0309082919/html/index.html. Nov.
19, 2001 Ass’t Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Introduced to Research Community Susan B. Neuman, the new Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), introduced herself to the research community at the latest education policy forum of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) on November 9. Neuman is the first “bona fide education researcher in this position,” observed Jerry Sroufe, AERA’s Director of Government Relations, introducing the new Assistant Secretary. (In the past, this position has been held most often by superintendents of schools.) Neuman was Professor in Educational Studies at the University of Michigan and Director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement before joining the Education Department. Like other Bush administration Education appointees, Neuman is a specialist in literacy. OESE is charged with promoting academic excellence, enhancing educational opportunities and equity, and improving the quality of teaching and learning by providing leadership, technical assistance, and financial support. It provides over $14 billion per year to “expand education opportunity and excellence in the nation’s K-12 education system.” According to Sroufe, OESE has moved from stressing the issue of equity to that of academic excellence. Neuman described the structure of OESE as “very bizarre.” Rather than reorganize the office, however, she wants to try to get the different components talking to each other. She described the people at OESE as high-quality – many are Ph.D.s and most have “true commitment” and want to work with a new agenda, she said. Like Assistant Secretary Russ Whitehurst at a previous AERA policy luncheon (see Update, October 22, 2001), Neuman placed her mission in the context of President Bush’s education agenda. Research is one of the agenda’s “four pillars,” and it is the job of OESE to apply that research, she said. The bottom line, Neuman stressed emphatically, is achievement. She also expressed her desire to build on current research – on “what we know” – and to “stop asking the same questions.” Specifically, Neuman wants to “put reading first,” building upon the Reading Excellence Act, which is designed to teach every child to read by the third grade, employing scientifically-based reading research. She referred to the President’s Reading First program, for which he has requested $1 billion for fiscal year 2002, and Early Reading First, a program to focus on reading in early childhood. Legislation
note: Negotiations are still
in progress to resolve the differences between the House and Senate’s
bills to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Rep. John Boenher (R-OH), chairman of the House-Senate education
panel, predicted the conference report will be completed by the end of the
year. Oct.
22, 2001 New OERI Head Shares His Agenda for Education Research In two recent meetings, newly appointed head of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) Russ Whitehurst introduced himself to the education research community (see Update, May 21, 2001) and discussed his priorities for improving the support and application of education research. Acknowledging poor student achievement, inadequate literacy, inconsistent quality and high turnover of teachers, poorly managed schools, and often harmful regulations, Whitehurst conceded, “There’s a lot that needs fixing” in American education. While society’s approach to solving problems, he said, is generally to fund more science and technology, Whitehurst called for a different strategy – one that tells us simply what works, so that we can implement successful programs and curriculum. For this he proposed something along the lines of the Campbell Collaboration (http://campbell.gse. upenn.edu), which screens studies to reveal what works. He suggested that in a few years, perhaps, we will require evidence of effectiveness before a program can appear in schools. Suggesting that the administration’s dedication to research goes straight to the top, Whitehurst noted that the fourth pillar of President Bush’s education agenda is high quality research. Secretary of Education Roderick Paige, he said, is a particularly strong proponent, having turned around the Houston school system in part by calling on researchers to separate effective curricula from the ineffective. Whitehurst has several goals for OERI and some specific ideas for reaching them. The policies for addressing some of these goals may be contained in the reauthorization legislation for OERI. Because the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is still not complete, OERI’s bill will probably not pass until sometime next year. Himself a scholar and author of several books and dozens of journal articles, Whitehurst aims to increase the quality of science at OERI. He lamented that fewer than ten OERI employees (excluding those at the National Center for Education Statistics) are trained as scientists and only one of the five institutes is headed by a Ph.D. Whitehurst wants to put scientists in high positions to provide leadership, and asked the research community to suggest candidates for several positions yet to be filled in the agency. He also advocated holding research to high standards and improving the peer review process, which he describes as scattered, in part by organizing peer review by topic area. Another of Whitehurst’s goals is to increase research capacity in the field. He pointed to a lack of well-trained researchers, which he suggested might be addressed by pre- and post-doctoral programs for education research and summer institutes on research practice. The paltry and inconsistent funding that makes the field unattractive as a career choice, Whitehurst declared, needs to be fixed. He also remarked that schools of education are drifting away from quantitative research, and should fund interdisciplinary training. Seeking Increased Independence from Political Influence Whitehurst acknowledged the perception that OERI is more subject to political influence than other research agencies, and shared some ideas to increase its independence. He remarked that the person in his position should serve for a fixed term (rather than at the pleasure of the President). He also opined that more evaluation efforts should flow through OERI. OERI also needs more focus, according to Whitehurst. He plans to develop a list of research priorities soon, but it is expected that reading and early childhood cognitive development will top the list. In addition to focus, Whitehurst called for better coordination of existing research programs, many of which are scattered across departments and institutes. Finally, Whitehurst announced the appointment of Valerie Reyna as Senior Research Advisor to the Assistant Secretary. Reyna served as Professor of Surgery, Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, Mexican-American Studies, and Women’s Studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Her research has focused on false memories in children and risky decisionmaking in youth. Sep.
10, 2001 House
Panel Discusses OERI Reauthorization The House Subcommittee on Education Reform met on July 17 to discuss the federal government’s role in education research, evaluation, data collection, and dissemination. The hearing, “From Research to Practice: Improving America’s Schools in the 21st Century,” is the first in a series of hearings of the 107th Congress on education reform. The witnesses, all researchers and practitioners in education, addressed issues pertinent to reauthorization of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), started by the last Congress but never completed. Although it will get little attention until the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is reauthorized (see Update, June 18, 2001), Chairman Mike Castle (R-DE) shared his hope that reauthorization of OERI will be completed in the first session of this Congress. He noted that both President Bush and Secretary Paige have expressed strong interest in moving legislation forward. In his opening statement, Castle promised that his bill “will be a departure from the status quo,” and will seek to insulate research from partisan influences. In formulating this legislation, he said, “improving student achievement – not protecting the current research structure – should be our main objective.” Addressing common frustrations with the results of education research, Castle began, “Some may say that 30 years of federally funded research, assistance, and evaluation has had little or no significant impact on educational policies and practices. To the extent that this is true, I believe this is due to the fact that there has not been enough value placed on the need for scientifically-based education research as a means to drive good policy, effective instruction, and, most important, student achievement.” From the research community, Frank Newman, Professor of Public Policy and Sociology at Brown University, testified before the panel. Calling current research in education “grossly inadequate,” Newman remained optimistic about the future of education research. “It is in research that the federal government plays the leading role and thus this committee can have the greatest impact.” Newman, former president of the Education Commission of the States, expressed his belief that much of the published research represents opinion buttressed by anecdotes. His staff at the Commission, he said, seldom read any of the 980 journals in education. He attributed the success of research in other fields to the “American system of organizing research – university researchers as the responsible parties; peer-reviewed competitive grants; multiple federal agencies as the grant makers.” Newman contrasted this with the system used in education, “which depends more on block grants. Block grants, even to universities, are much less effective.” Newman called for a different approach to education research, suggesting an institute modeled on the success of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, “an institute shielded from political pressure, adequately funded, primarily utilizing peer-reviewed competitive grants, and capable of a long-term perspective.” He offered the subcommittee several recommendations for developing a first-class research program: 1) create large databases constructed with care; 2) focus on issues of importance; 3) follow the research over a long enough period of time to provide meaningful data; 4) replicate encouraging results; 5) learn from what has worked, or failed to work, elsewhere around the world; and 6) spend more on research in education. July
16, 2001 Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst was confirmed by the Senate July 12 to be Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education at the Department of Education (see Update, May 21, 2001). Whitehurst will head the Office for Educational Research and Improvement. May
21, 2001 OERI Testifies Before Appropriations
On April 26, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education
Subcommittee held a hearing on the Department of Education’s Fiscal Year
2002 budget request. Sue
Betka, the Department of Education’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Program Policy and Planning, testified on behalf of the Office of
Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). Normally, the Assistant Secretary for Educational Research would represent OERI, but the President has not yet filled this position. He has, however, announced the nomination of Russ Whitehurst (see related story on page 7), who has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
Betka reiterated the President’s past statements that to improve
student achievement, educators must use effective, research-based
practices and programs. She
also described some of the activities and programs that would be funded
under the $188.1 million FY 2002 budget request, including the
university-based research and development centers, field-initiated
research, interagency research efforts, and research on language minority
learners and comprehensive school reform.
Few of the Subcommittee’s questions addressed research directly;
of most significance was a question by Rep. Anne Northup (R-KY) about the
bridge between education research and practice.
The topic has a high profile these days because of the increased
attention to education and the perceived failure of the education research
community to make the results of their work improve education in the
field. Northup, who chairs the bipartisan House Reading Caucus with Congresswoman Carrie Meek (D-FL), asked Betka about OERI’s efforts to bring the results of research to the field, specifically the findings of the National Reading Panel (NRP). The NRP began in 1997 when Congress asked the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. The NRP released their findings in April, 2000 (see Update, April 17, 2000). Northup chided the panelists, who could not describe OERI’s efforts to disseminate the results, for being “disturbingly unaware” of the NRP. May
21, 2001 The President nominated Russ Whitehurst to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Educational Research and Improvement. Whitehurst currently serves as the lead professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received his Ph.D. in Child Psychology from the University of Illinois, where he also earned a Master’s in Clinical Psychology. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said President Bush’s decision “reflects his emphasis on science-based teaching methods and early reading.” Jan.
29, 2001 Congress and the Administration Talk Education; Details Pending
President Bush got off to an early start by introducing his
education proposal on January 23. As
expected, the plan includes vouchers to help parents move their children
out of failing schools. While
this aspect drew the most attention, Bush downplayed its significance,
preferring to focus on testing and standards.
As of now, the proposal is not published in legislative form; it is
too early to tell what it may hold for education research.
Some indication of what may eventually pass Congress, however, is
offered by Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE).
Castle is President of the moderate Republican Main Street
Partnership, which released an Education Action Agenda several days
earlier. The document highlights specific major education initiatives
that Castle and the other partnership members believe can be enacted under
the Bush Administration. The
Agenda calls first for the reauthorization, reform, and improvement of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which Congress failed to
reauthorize last session.
Addressing research, the partnership makes four recommendations: 1. Enact legislation to ensure that all federal research, evaluation, statistics and dissemination activities conform to the highest standards of quality, are free from ideological agendas, and provide parents, educators and policymakers with reliable information on education practices that improve academic achievement. 2.
Replace the national priorities board, which consists of Department
heads and representatives of professional education organizations, to
ensure that the priorities of our nation’s federal research arm are
determined by the needs of real teachers and school administrators. 3.
Move the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) out from
under the Department of Education and give the National Assessment
Governing Board the full authority over the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP), the federal program that regularly tests
national samples of students to measure achievement at different age and
grade levels. 4.
Ensure that education resources are used to support quality at all
levels. . . Quality and
applicability to state standards – not economics – should be the
deciding factor in purchasing services, textbooks, tests, etc. . . . This
is one area federal researchers should examine closely. Democrats Weigh-In
On the same day that Bush unveiled his education plan, members of
the House and Senate New Democrat Coalition reintroduced their education
package, describing it as a real opportunity to “break the education
stalemate in Congress, and make substantial progress toward addressing our
nation’s educational challenges.” The “Three R’s” plan (Reinvestment, Reinvention, and Responsibility), introduced by Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) in the last Congress, shares many of the ideals touted by the Bush plan. Noticeably different, however, in the Democrats’ plan is the lack of any proposal to move NCES or NAEP outside the Department of Education. At this point, however, specifics are few and far between. |
|