[NLA] Discussion: How will OERI Reauthorization afftect NCSALL?

[David J. Rosen]

NLA Colleagues,

An NLA list member called my attention to the article below about the 
reform of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement which, as 
was recently pointed out here, funds the National Center for the Study 
of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL).  I cannot tell from this 
article whether the "lamb-ing" of this Lion means that a separate 
national adult literacy research center is no longer at risk.  Anyone know?

David J. Rosen
NLA List Moderator




Article from the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools
Project Bi-Monthly Bulletin

The entire PPI newsletter is available at
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250950 

<http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=900001&contentID=250950>. 



OERI Reauthorization:  In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

Last week the House passed a conference-approved version of
the bill to reauthorize the federal Office of Educational Research
and Improvement; the Senate is expected to do the same later
this week, and the President is expected to sign off on the
legislation, bringing an end to a process that has languished on
Capital Hill in a peculiar paradox of obscurity and political import.
The Bush Administration had grand plans for overhauling the
federal government's role in education research as an
accompaniment to the No Child Left Behind Act. But in the end
it looks as if federal education research will continue to be a faint
cymbal clang on the tail end of the policy cacophony.

At face value there are some changes to be sure: a new name,
some new offices created, more "independence" for federal
research and statistics. At the end of the day, however, it's
unclear how much of a difference any of these changes will
make in the primary operations of federal education research.
This is truly unfortunate because research should be a priority
of federal education policy. As opposed to the private sector,
where the lure of enormous profits drives a robust R&D industry,
for the most part education research offers only intrinsic rewards.
It's shocking to consider that the Department of Education
spends almost as much on its own overhead and administration
as research functions for American education. Even in flush
times, let alone the current fiscal climate, states do not have
education research capability or resources; this is a job
for Washington.

The bill also aims to improve evaluation functions for federal
education programs by moving them from the program offices
into the new research office. This is an improvement, but it's
unclear how program evaluation will actually be any more
independent or isolated from politics. Apparently independence
in research and program evaluation looked a lot better to the
Bush campaign than the Bush Administration.

Perhaps none of this matters that much. Education research is
only as useful as its consumers are savvy, and there is still
plenty of evidence that too many people involved with education
fail to differentiate among different kinds of research, both in
terms of what sorts of questions it can help to answer and more
importantly in terms of whether specific findings can be
generalized and applied through public policy. The Bush
Administration does deserve credit for putting the issue of
what constitutes research front and center. But in too many
cases that conversation is far ahead of practice in the field.

Further Reading:

Education and the Workforce Committee Press Release
on House Passage of Final Agreement (10/11/02):
http://edworkforce.house.gov/press/press107/edresearch101102.htm

"Senate Panel Passes Federal Research Bill,"
Lisa Fine Goldstein, Education Week (10/02/02):
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=05oeri.h22&keywords=research
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=05oeri.h22&keywords=research>

"Research of Education:
On the leading Edge of School Improvement,"
PPI-NEKIA-EQI Conference Transcript (03/26/02):
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=181&contentID=250346 

<http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=110&subsecID=181&contentID=250346> 



Scientific Research In Education
Committee on Scientific Principles for Education Research,
Richard J. Shavelson and Lisa Towne, Editors,
National Research Council (2002):
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10236.html

ABOUT THE 21st CENTURY SCHOOLS PROJECT

The Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project
develops public policy to ensure that American schools help all
students develop the skills and knowledge they need to be
successful in the knowledge economy.
More about us:
http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ka.cfm?knlgAreaID=110


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