Advancing Scientific Research in Education

138 Pages·2005·4.31 MB·english

by  Committee on Research in Education

ADVANCING
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
IN EDUCATION
Committee on Research in Education
Lisa Towne, Lauress L. Wise, and Tina M. Winters, Editors
Center for Education
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing
Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils
of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the
Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were
chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. ED-00-CO-0088 between the National
Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education, Grant No. 2002-7860
from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Grant No. 200200225 from the
Spencer Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations ex-
pressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the U.S. Department of Education, the William and Flora Hewlett Founda-
tion, or the Spencer Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Research in Education.
Advancing scientific research in education / Committee on Research in Education ;
Lisa Towne, Lauress L. Wise, and Tina M. Winters, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-309-09321-X (pbk.) — ISBN 0-309-54598-6 (pdf)
1. Education—Research—United States. I. Towne, Lisa. II. Wise, Lauress L. III.
Winters, Tina M. IV. Title.
LB1028.25.U6N373 2004
370'.7'2—dc22
2004026249
Additional copies of this report are available from National Academies Press, 500 Fifth
Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; [phone] or (202) 334-
3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.
Printed in the United States of America
Copyright 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2005). Advancing Scientific Research in
Education. Committee on Research in Education. Lisa Towne, Lauress L. Wise, and
Tina M. Winters, Editors. Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social
Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of
distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the
furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the
authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a
mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical
matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of
the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers.
It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with
the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal govern-
ment. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed
at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the supe-
rior achievements of engineers. Dr. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the National Academy
of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sci-
ences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the ex-
amination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts
under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional
charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to
identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is presi-
dent of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences
in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s
purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in
accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become
the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and
the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by
both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. Wm. A.
Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org

COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH IN EDUCATION
2004
Lauress L. Wise (Chair), Human Resources Research Organization
(HumRRO), Arlington, VA
Linda Chinnia, Baltimore City Public School System
Kay Dickersin, Department of Community Health, Brown University,
Providence, RI
Margaret Eisenhart, School of Education, University of Colorado,
Boulder
Karen Falkenberg, Division of Educational Studies, Emory University,
Atlanta, GA
Jack McFarlin Fletcher, University of Texas-Houston Health Science
Center and Center for Academic and Reading Skills
Robert E. Floden, College of Education, Michigan State University, East
Lansing
Ernest M. Henley (emeritus), Department of Physics, University of
Washington, Seattle
Vinetta C. Jones, School of Education, Howard University, Washington, DC
Brian W. Junker, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA
David Klahr, Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA
Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Barbara Schneider, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago
Joseph Tobin, College of Education, Arizona State University, Tempe
Lisa Towne, Study Director
Tina M. Winters, Research Associate
v

Preface
T
he central idea of evidence-based education—that education policy
and practice ought to be fashioned based on what is known from
rigorous research—offers a compelling way to approach reform
efforts. Recent federal trends reflect a growing enthusiasm for such change.
Most visibly, the No Child Left Behind Act requires that “scientifically
based [education] research” drive the use of federal education funds at the
state and local levels. This emphasis is also reflected in a number of govern-
ment and nongovernment initiatives across the country. As consensus builds
around the goals of evidence-based education, consideration of what it will
take to make it a reality becomes the crucial next step.
In this context, the Center for Education of the National Research
Council (NRC) has undertaken a series of activities to address issues related
to the quality of scientific education research.1 In 2002, the NRC released
Scientific Research in Education (National Research Council, 2002), a re-
port designed to articulate the nature of scientific education research and to
guide efforts aimed at improving its quality. Building on this work, the
Committee on Research in Education was convened to advance an im-
proved understanding of a scientific approach to addressing education prob-
1Other NRC efforts—especially the line of work that culminated in the recent report
Strategic Education Research Partnership (National Research Council, 2003b)—offer insights
and advice about ways to advance research utilization more broadly.
vii
viii PREFACE
lems; to engage the field of education research in action-oriented dialogue
about how to further the accumulation of scientific knowledge; and to
coordinate, support, and promote cross-fertilization among NRC efforts in
education research.
The main locus of activity undertaken to meet these objectives was a
year-long series of workshops to engage a range of education stakeholders
in discussions about five key topics. Since these events provide the basis for
the committee’s conclusions and recommendations, we wish to acknowl-
edge and thank speakers2 from each of the events for their extremely help-
ful contributions to our deliberations:
• Peer Review in Federal Education Research Programs. This workshop
focused on the purposes and practices of peer review in many of the federal
agencies that fund education research. Federal officials and researchers con-
sidered a range of models used across the government to involve peers in
the review of proposals for education research funding and discussed ways
to foster a high-quality portfolio. It took place on February 25-26, 2003, at
the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, DC. A report
of this event was issued in July 2004 and contains the committee’s conclu-
sions and recommendations about peer review in federal agencies that sup-
port education research. It can be viewed at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/
11054.html.
Speakers included Diane August, August and Associates; Hilda Borko,
University of Colorado, Boulder; Steven Breckler, National Science Foun-
dation; Susan Chipman, Office of Naval Research; Dominic Cicchetti, Yale
University; Louis Danielson, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S.
Department of Education; Kenneth Dodge, Duke University; Edward
Hackett, Arizona State University; Milton Hakel, Bowling Green State
University; Teresa Levitin, National Institutes of Health; Penelope Peterson,
Northwestern University; Edward Reddish, University of Maryland;
Finbarr Sloane, National Science Foundation; Brent Stanfield, National
Institutes of Health; Robert Sternberg, Yale University; and Grover (Russ)
Whitehurst, Institute of Education Sciences.
• Understanding and Promoting Knowledge Accumulation in Education:
Tools and Strategies for Education Research. With a focus on how to build a
2For each speaker, we provide their affiliation at the time of the workshop.
PREFACE ix
coherent knowledge base in education research, researchers and federal of-
ficials considered several elements of the research infrastructure, including
tools, practices, models, and standards. Fundamental questions about what
such a knowledge base might look like were also considered in this context.
It took place on June 30-July 1, 2003, at the main building of the National
Academies in Washington, DC. A summary of this event appears in this
report as Appendix B.
Speakers included Daniel Berch, National Institutes of Health;
Norman Bradburn, National Science Foundation; Claudia Buchmann,
Duke University; David K. Cohen, University of Michigan; Harris Coo-
per, Duke University; Ronald Ehrenberg, Cornell University; David
Grissmer, RAND Corporation; Kenji Hakuta, University of California,
Merced; Kenneth Howe, University of Colorado, Boulder; Jay Labov, Na-
tional Research Council; Helen (Sunny) Ladd, Duke University; David
McQueen, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Hugh (Bud)
Mehan, University of California, San Diego; Gary Natriello, Columbia
University; Michael Nettles, Educational Testing Service; Barbara Rogoff,
University of California, Santa Cruz; Barbara Schneider, University of Chi-
cago; Marilyn McMillen Seastrom, National Center for Education Statis-
tics; Robert Slavin, Johns Hopkins University and the Success for All Foun-
dation; Sidney Winter, University of Pennsylvania; and Lauress L. Wise,
HumRRO.
• Random Assignment Experimentation in Education: Implementation
and Implications. The evidence-based education trend has brought to the
fore decades of debate about the appropriateness of randomized field trials
in education. Far less consideration has been devoted to the practical as-
pects of conducting such studies in educational settings; this workshop
featured detailed descriptions of the implementation of studies using ran-
domized field trials in education and reflections on how the current trend
to fund more of these studies is influencing states, districts, and students. It
took place on September 24, 2003, at the Keck Center of the National
Academies in Washington, DC. A summary of this event was issued in May
2004 and can be viewed at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10943.html.
Speakers included Robert F. Boruch, University of Pennsylvania;
Wesley Bruce, Indiana Department of Education; Linda Chinnia, Balti-
more City Public School System; Donna Durno, Allegheny Intermediate
Unit; Olatokunbo S. Fashola, Johns Hopkins University; Judith Gueron,
MDRC; Vinetta C. Jones, Howard University; Sheppard Kellam, Ameri-
can Institutes for Research; Anthony (Eamonn) Kelly, George Mason Uni-