Table Of ContentADVANCING
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
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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.
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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.
