Scientific Research in Education


Book Description

Researchers, historians, and philosophers of science have debated the nature of scientific research in education for more than 100 years. Recent enthusiasm for "evidence-based" policy and practice in educationâ€"now codified in the federal law that authorizes the bulk of elementary and secondary education programsâ€"have brought a new sense of urgency to understanding the ways in which the basic tenets of science manifest in the study of teaching, learning, and schooling. Scientific Research in Education describes the similarities and differences between scientific inquiry in education and scientific inquiry in other fields and disciplines and provides a number of examples to illustrate these ideas. Its main argument is that all scientific endeavors share a common set of principles, and that each fieldâ€"including education researchâ€"develops a specialization that accounts for the particulars of what is being studied. The book also provides suggestions for how the federal government can best support high-quality scientific research in education.




Research and Education Reform


Book Description

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education has a mandate for expanding knowledge of teaching and learning and for improving education in this country. This book focuses on how OERI can better fulfill that mission in light of what is known about why prior education reforms have often failed, what is needed to enhance the effectiveness of such efforts, and what education research and development can contribute to better schools. The history, mission, governance, organization, functions, operations, and budgets of OERI are analyzed. Recommendations are made for restructuring OERI, expanding funding, involving scholars from many fields, and engaging teachers and school principals in improvement efforts.




The Science of Learning and Development


Book Description

This essential text unpacks major transformations in the study of learning and human development and provides evidence for how science can inform innovation in the design of settings, policies, practice, and research to enhance the life path, opportunity and prosperity of every child. The ideas presented provide researchers and educators with a rationale for focusing on the specific pathways and developmental patterns that may lead a specific child, with a specific family, school, and community, to prosper in school and in life. Expanding key published articles and expert commentary, the book explores a profound evolution in thinking that integrates findings from psychology with biology through sociology, education, law, and history with an emphasis on institutionalized inequities and disparate outcomes and how to address them. It points toward possible solutions through an understanding of and addressing the dynamic relations between a child and the contexts within which he or she lives, offering all researchers of human development and education a new way to understand and promote healthy development and learning for diverse, specific youth regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or history of adversity, challenge, or trauma. The book brings together scholars and practitioners from the biological/medical sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, educational science, and fields of law and social and educational policy. It provides an invaluable and unique resource for understanding the bases and status of the new science, and presents a roadmap for progress that will frame progress for at least the next decade and perhaps beyond.




Conducting Educational Design Research


Book Description

Educational design research blends scientific investigation with the systematic development and implementation of solutions to educational challenges. Empirical inquiry is conducted in real learning settings – not laboratories – to craft effective solutions to the complex challenges facing educational practitioners. At the same time, the research is carefully structured to produce theoretical understanding that can serve the work of others. Conducting Educational Design Research, 2nd Edition has been written to support graduate students as well as experienced researchers who are new to this approach. Part I describes the origins, outcomes, and generic approach. Part II discusses the core processes of the generic approach in detail. Part III recommends how to propose, report, and advance educational design research. In addition to expanded treatment of research goals and practicalities, more examples, and attention to design-based implementation research, this new edition features enhanced guidance. For each of the four core processes, this volume offers: assessment tools detailed, behind-the-scenes descriptions of actual project work examples of how specific theories have been used to enrich the work For decades, policies for educational research worldwide have swung back and forth between demanding rigor above all other concerns, and increasing emphasis on impact. These two qualities, rigor and impact, need not be mutually exclusive. This volume supports readers in grasping and realizing the potential of educational design research. It demonstrates how rigorous and relevant investigation can yield both theoretical understanding and solutions to urgent educational challenges.




Grading the Nation's Report Card


Book Description

Since the late 1960s, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--the nation's report card--has been the only continuing measure of student achievement in key subject areas. Increasingly, educators and policymakers have expected NAEP to serve as a lever for education reform and many other purposes beyond its original role. Grading the Nation's Report Card examines ways NAEP can be strengthened to provide more informative portrayals of student achievement and the school and system factors that influence it. The committee offers specific recommendations and strategies for improving NAEP's effectiveness and utility, including: Linking achievement data to other education indicators. Streamlining data collection and other aspects of its design. Including students with disabilities and English-language learners. Revamping the process by which achievement levels are set. The book explores how to improve NAEP framework documents--which identify knowledge and skills to be assessed--with a clearer eye toward the inferences that will be drawn from the results. What should the nation expect from NAEP? What should NAEP do to meet these expectations? This book provides a blueprint for a new paradigm, important to education policymakers, professors, and students, as well as school administrators and teachers, and education advocates.




Research and Education Reform


Book Description

The Committee on the Federal Role in Education Research (CFRER), convened by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), studied the structure, operations, and functioning of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the Department of Education and the organizations it supports, and reviewed the roles of other agencies and the overall research needs of U.S. education. The United States is currently committed to education reform, in which the OERI may play a major role. The examination of the OERI found an agency severely challenged by external difficulties as well as internal problems. External problems include public conflicts about education and funding. Internal problems include a weak advisory council and frequent administrative turnover. Uneven quality control, limited coordination among OERI offices, and poor information dissemination are flaws that should be overcome. The CFRER concludes that the OERI should be rebuilt. CFRER recommendations are grouped according to: (1) governance; (2) organization and functions; (3) operations; and (4) funding. To accomplish its redefined functions, the OERI should receive a substantial funding increase. There is a 220-item list of references, and an appendix gives biographical sketches of 17 CFRER and staff members. (SLD)




The Science of Reading


Book Description

The Science of Reading: A Handbook brings together state-of-the-art reviews of reading research from leading names in the field, to create a highly authoritative, multidisciplinary overview of contemporary knowledge about reading and related skills. Provides comprehensive coverage of the subject, including theoretical approaches, reading processes, stage models of reading, cross-linguistic studies of reading, reading difficulties, the biology of reading, and reading instruction Divided into seven sections:Word Recognition Processes in Reading; Learning to Read and Spell; Reading Comprehension; Reading in Different Languages; Disorders of Reading and Spelling; Biological Bases of Reading; Teaching Reading Edited by well-respected senior figures in the field




Advancing Scientific Research in Education


Book Description

Transforming education into an evidence-based field depends in no small part on a strong base of scientific knowledge to inform educational policy and practice. Advancing Scientific Research in Education makes select recommendations for strengthening scientific education research and targets federal agencies, professional associations, and universitiesâ€"particularly schools of educationâ€"to take the lead in advancing the field.