Reporter's Notebook

New Orleans

The gathering of 10,000-plus education researchers in one spot is always an attention getter. But last week's meeting of the American Educational Research Association here had an even higher profile than most of the group's annual meetings.

That's because the meeting comes as the Bush administration is stepping up its commitment to what it calls "evidence-based education practice," and education researchers may be key to the success of that effort.

The new emphasis on education research was made crystal clear in the "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001. The reauthorized federal education law that President Bush signed in January makes the phrase "scientifically based research" a mantra, requiring states and school districts to turn to research for guidance on almost every practice they pay...