Research and Education Reform Roles for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (1992) / Chapter Skim
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1 INTRODUCTION
1 INTRODUCTION
Pages 9-18
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From page 9... ...
We argue for a new view of the contributions of research to education. We do not consider research the handmaiden of any single reform effort in education, nor does it necessarily deliver tools that have immediate utility to teachers.
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From page 10... ...
In the business sector, the need for a stronger education system has become an article of faith as corporate leaders contemplate the challenges facing them. Competitors are no longer in the next county or state they are increasingly apt to be in another country.
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. Although some dropouts subsequently complete their secondary education through the General Equivalency Diploma and other special programs, the immigration of poorly educated adults appears to have had an offsetting effect in the Hispanic population.
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In pursuit of the new goal of achieving both basic academic knowledge and conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills for all students, many people have concluded that schools do not merely need to be improved; rather, a fundamental restructuring in the nature of schooling is necessary. Among the solutions proposed by advocates of school restructuring are national goals and national achievement tests; school-site management; schools of choice; career ladders for teachers, with new roles and responsibilities; abolition of tracking and homogeneous ability groupings for students; outcome-based curriculum; reduced school size; smaller, stable, family-like instructional units of students and teachers; portfolios of student work replacing standardized tests; parental control of schools; team teaching; teacher participation in school management; ongoing staff development; deep coverage instead of broad coverage as a curriculum principle; interdisciplinary curriculum; community-based learning; and integration of community resources to serve students (Newmann, 1990; Smith and O'Day, 1990~.
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From page 13... ...
If schools in the United States are going to get better, it will require the combined efforts and commitment of all concerned parents, teachers, administrators, and government officials. The challenge for federal and state policy makers is to create conditions that will make education reform more likely to help schools and communities equip themselves with the tools of reform.
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From page 14... ...
Research evaluates the consequences of programs and policies, such as open-enrollment options. Research provides new insights into basic processes of individual and organizational functioning, such as the neurological networks activated in the human brain during learning or the situational stimuli for group leadership.
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From page 15... ...
The idea of schools as parts of learning communities changes the conventional view of how research can contribute to improvements in education. In that view, researchers dispense their wisdom ideally in a wellpackaged, easy-to-use format to a relatively passive audience of teachers and administrators, and the reason for building a strong infrastructure of research, development, and dissemination is to transmit knowledge about education from a central vantage point (the government or a university)
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From page 16... ...
Each level of the community brings it own unique contribution to the reform effort: by working and learning together the participants can create the conditions and opportunities for increasingly effective reform. This committee was asked to determine how federally sponsored education research could better contribute to improved education, with particular focus on the mission, organization, and operations of Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)
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From page 17... ...
From the commercial development of electrical power systems and worldwide air transportation, one can see that repeated iterations of research, development, testing, and refinement increasingly complex and expensive- are necessary to overcome failures, maximize effectiveness in diverse settings, and reduce costs sufficiently to allow widespread application. From the Agricultural Extension Service, one can see that long-standing, face-to-face relationships are often essential for fostering the use of even relatively easily implemented innova tions.
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From page 18... ...
Chapter 4 presents an appraisal of the agency and the challenges that it has faced. The final chapter provides a series of governance, organizational, operational staffing, and funding recommendations designed to strengthen OERI for the traditional roles of research and for developing learning communities to conduct and use research.
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Key Terms
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