Leveraging Learning: The Evolving Role of Federal Policy in Education Research
Due to inclement weather, this event was postponed.
The Aspen Institute is proud to announce the impending release of Leveraging Learning: The Evolving Role of Federal Policy in Education Research and will mark the release with a panel discussion featuring a series of expert voices on education R&D.
As the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) enters its second decade, it can build on its hard-earned reputation for bringing rigor to a field not previously renowned for consistent quality in research. Yet as transformative reforms like the Common Core State Standards and educator evaluation roll out amidst a rapidly changing demographic landscape, the need for getting high-quality research on timely topics into the hands of practitioners grows all the more urgent. While rigor and relevance need not be a question of “either/or”, but rather an instance of “both/and,” there’s a tension between the timeline of traditional research and the fast-paced change of education reform that policymakers need to address. Moreover, reconciling rigor and relevance does not in itself ensure access to and use of research by practitioners: How can federal policy better calibrate the current rigor-relevance balance in education research and improve meaningful uptake by the field?
The recent movement in both houses around the reauthorization of the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) creates an opportunity to debate these timely questions and to translate urgency into legislation. The Aspen Education Program has assembled a collection of essays and maps that illuminate the current and potential role of federal agencies engaged in the research-to-practice network. Please join us for a panel discussion featuring our essay authors and expert respondents on next steps for federal investment in education R&D.
Authors Panel
Moderated by Joaquin Tamayo, Assistant Director, Aspen Education & Society Program
Michael J. Petrilli, Executive Vice President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Robert E. Slavin, Director, Center for Research and Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University
Vivian Tseng, Vice President of Programs, William T. Grant Foundation
Response Panel
Moderated by Christopher Cross, Project Director, Aspen Senior Congressional Staff Network
James Bergeron, Director for Education and Human Services Policy, House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Jack Buckley, Commissioner, National Center for Education Statistics
Jamie Fasteau, Minority Senior Education Policy Advisor, House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Glen Harvey, CEO, WestEd
Russ Whitehurst, Senior Fellow and Director, Brown Center on Education Policy, The Brookings Institution
Newly Released Resources
In addition to the papers contributed by the authors panelists indicated above, the session will mark the release of accompanying resources:
A Brief History of Federal Efforts to Improve Education Research, by Nancy Kober, Freelance Reporter and Consultant
Strengthening the Education Sciences Reform Act: Fostering Innovation and Efficiency through Mechanism Experiments, by Timothy Knowles, John Dewey Director, Urban Institute; and Jens Ludwig, McCormick Foundation Professor, University of Chicago.
Infographic: What, Who, and Where are the Regional Educational Laboratories and Comprehensive Centers?, developed by the Aspen Institute
Infographic: Which Federal Agencies Conduct Research Relevant to Education?, developed by the Aspen Institute
Download Leveraging Learning on December 9 at www.AspenDRL.org.
Join the conversation on Twitter at #LeveragingLearning
The Aspen Institute is proud to announce the impending release of Leveraging Learning: The Evolving Role of Federal Policy in Education Research. Join us for a panel discussion featuring our authors and a series of expert voices on education R&D.
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