In its most recent newsletter, the Director of the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) – the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education – shared his goals for education research.
John Easton, IES Director, discussed changes he intends to pursue and areas of focus for future research projects, including:
- Ensuring that IES funded research continues to be rigorous, but with a renewed emphasis on making it more relevant and useful.
- Developing a greater understanding of schools as learning organizations and how they can improve.
- Understanding more clearly how the education research and development cycle works—that is, as Easton explains, "how development, research, and innovation are linked together and how we support this in a better way."
- Moving from a dissemination model of sharing research findings to a facilitation model, which engages practitioners and policymakers on projects from the beginning so the Institute is studying the right problems of practice.
- Building the capacity of states and school districts to use their longitudinal data systems, conduct research, and evaluate their programs.
Read Director Easton's remarks at to learn more about these broad ideas, which he would like "to see move IES" over his term as Director.
CEC has actively supported increased funding for special education research and will keep its members informed of future advocacy opportunities.
Read the full IES Newsletter.
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