NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – At a national conference on education research, federal officials on Tuesday challenged scholars to increase collaborations with educators, community leaders, and state policymakers that bring research-based improvements to K-12 and postsecondary education.
Education research is undergoing a revolution, reflecting reform-driven change to include communities and educators as collaborators rather than merely as test subjects, said Dr. John Q. Easton, director of the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), the U.S. Department of Education’s research unit.
“Effective education research must be guided by the voices and interests of practitioners and policymakers,” Easton said. “If researchers want their work to be relevant, we need to spend time in schools talking with administrators and teachers about the challenges they face. We need to reach out to policymakers. We need to collaborate with researchers outside their expertise.”
President Barack Obama’s education agenda emphasizes local problem solving, but without the data to evaluate interventions, progress can come to a standstill, Education Department officials have cautioned. With the nation declining in international education rankings, IES officials say they specifically want to help generate research that speaks to the public.
“Research is the compass for education reform, guiding us forward, showing us when we are heading in the right direction,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who opened the annual IES conference at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center.
Typically, Easton said, education researchers have done work in their area of professional interest or based on a theory rather than on the needs of practitioners.
“We should be inviting practitioners and policymakers to the table from the beginning,” he said. “I’m going to implore you to rethink the traditional model that has governed educational research for far too long.”
