E.D. Legislation Proposes Flexibility for Research Office

By Robert Rothman

Washington--The Education Department has sent to the Congress a plan for reauthorizing its research office that affirms its goal of providing more flexibility in research funding and calls for few changes in the agency's structure.

But the proposal, which was largely drawn up before the current assistant secretary of education for educational research and improvement, Diane S. Ravitch, took office, is likely to undergo changes as it works its way through the Congressional reauthorization process.

As a signal of the type firevisions the Congress may impose, the House Subcommittee on Select Education last week released a report calling for "a greatly expanded federal research,...