School & District Management

Connect Agenda for Federal Research To Practice, Advisory Board Advocates

By Joetta L. Sack — January 15, 1997 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Washington

Moving research closer to students, teachers, and schools should be a top priority for federal officials, according to the first long-term agenda for federally sponsored school research.

An advisory board and Department of Education officials proposed that proven school practices, instead of new trends, should be the subject of federal researchers. That stance addressed critics who argue that the department too often funds research that follows political whims.

“We cannot afford hit-or-miss approaches driven by fad and fallacies,” Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said last month. “We need solid scientific evidence about what works, for whom, and under what conditions.”

He pointed to vouchers as a strategy that may get more attention than it deserves.

The research agenda was mandated by Congress in 1994. Lawmakers asked the department’s office of educational research and improvement to work with a new 15-member advisory board to set a biennial plan of national research priorities.

The board, composed of researchers and educators, was added to the process in the wake of charges that the OERI was too far removed from the schools it serves. (“Policy Board Discusses Labs and Centers, Research Agenda,” April 12, 1995.)

Gerald Sroufe, the director of government and professional liaison for the American Educational Research Association, noted that the department often completely changes its focus each time a new secretary is appointed. He said he would like to see the priorities bring stability to the department.

“What’s most important about [the priorities] is they exist,” he said. “There are no exotic ideas buried within” the report.

Touching All Bases

The document, “Building Knowledge for a Nation of Learners,” recommends that future federally funded education research focus on issues under seven broad categories.

Those categories are research that will help educators; improve early-childhood development; align curriculum, teaching, and assessments toward more analytical thinking; improve teacher training and boost recruitment and retention; motivate students to learn and take responsibility; prepare increasingly diverse student populations for all aspects of American life; promote tying out-of-school experiences to classes and academic achievement; and understand the nation’s changing demographics and what students need to learn to succeed.

The research priorities report says that schools that can master all those categories will succeed in producing well-educated students.

Mr. Riley said that research guided by the new priorities should lead to better federal education policy.

“The very foundation for this effort surely has to be good research,” the secretary said. “If we want smart kids we better have smart research.”

Copies of “Building Knowledge for a Nation of Learners” are free from the National Library of Education, (800) 424-1616, or at the department’s World Wide Web site at http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/RschPriority/plan.

Related Tags:

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management 3 Tips to Help Districts Navigate Educator Layoffs
Keep cuts in line with the district's overarching goals, an expert advises.
3 min read
Illustration of scissors cutting row of paper dolls.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
School & District Management Teachers Hate All Those Meetings. Can Principals Find a Workaround?
Principals can't do away with every meeting, but they can reduce some and make others more effective.
4 min read
Image of a staff meeting.
E+/Getty
School & District Management Q&A When This Principal Talks About Mental Health, People Listen. Here's Why
The NASSP Advocacy Champion of the year said he used stories from his school and community to speak with his state’s legislators.
6 min read
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, poses for a photo in front of a Senate office building in Washington, D.C.
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, stands in front of a Senate office building in Washington on March 13, 2024. Young was among the secondary principals to meet with legislators urging them to keep federal funding for schools stable.
Olina Banerji/Education Week
School & District Management Teacher Layoffs Are Mounting. How Districts Can Soften the Blow
Layoffs are coming in districts large and small. Here's how district leaders can handle them.
8 min read
Pencil Eraser Erasing Drawn Figure
AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty