Q&A: Historian Outlines Project To Assess Federal Research Agency

To help the U.S. Education Department's office of educational research and improvement think through its mission, Diane S. Ravitch, the assistant secretary of education who heads the office, last month asked Maris A. Vinovskis, an education historian from the University of Michigan, to study the research that has been conducted at the O.E.R.I.

Mr. Vinovskis, a professor of history and a research scientist at the center for political studies at the university's Institute for Social Research, previously served in similar capacities in the federal Health and Human Services Department. From 1981 to 1983, he studied programs in the the office of adolescent-pregnancy programs, and from 1983 to 1985, he served as a consultant for the office of family planning programs.

A native of Latvia, Mr. Vinovskis is the author or editor of 11 books, including volumes on demography, population policy, the Civil War, and...