Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

7 Ensuring Broad and Equitable Participation in NCER and NCSER Research Training Programs
Pages 153-170

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 153...
... is directed to "strengthen the national capacity to conduct, develop, and widely disseminate scientifically valid research in education." To fulfill this charge, over the past two decades, IES has funded programs that train researchers in the skills needed to carry out such research. Put another way, IES's training programs have "seeded" the field of education sciences with researchers who have the skills necessary to carry out its vision of scientific research.
From page 154...
... For example, both centers provide training opportunities for postdoctoral researchers and specialized methods training. NCER and NCSER diverge in their offerings for junior scholars, with NCSER providing training programs for early career faculty and NCER providing training
From page 155...
... Early Career Development NCSER 2013–Present To support early career early intervention 33 grants; $16.3 million and Mentoring in Special and special education researchers capable Education of producing rigorous research relevant to the needs of infants, toddlers, children, and youth with or at risk for disabilities. continued 155
From page 156...
... Methods Training for NCER 2002–Present4 To support current researchers in building NCER: 15 grants; $11.7 Educational Researchers NCSER and expanding their skills to design, analyze, million1 and interpret rigorous education research. NCSER: 4 grants; $2.2 million2 SOURCE: Committee-generated based on data from IES.
From page 157...
... 4Prior to establishing the Methods Training for Education Researchers program, NCER and NCSER supported methods training grants that were submitted under the unsolicited grants opportunity. We have included these grants in our total grants funded under this program, and therefore have noted the starting date for these grants as 2002.
From page 158...
... , more data are needed for the committee and the field to fully understand who participates in these programs, how their participation has contributed to their success as education researchers, and how their participation has shaped the field. For example, it is not clear from the available data how many participants in the various training programs have matriculated through education research careers, how many have applied for and secured funding from NCER and NCSER, or how many have made use of the specific methodological and statistical techniques they were trained on in their research.
From page 159...
... The sheer volume of education researchers who have participated in these training programs would seem to indicate that IES has, indeed, strengthened the nation's capacity to develop, conduct, and disseminate scientifically valid education research widely. At historical moments such as the present one, strengths like the training programs can and should be leveraged to address both challenges and opportunities to improve student achievement and school success.
From page 160...
... Regarding improvement, NCER and NCSER's training programs were founded, in part, on the assumption that many education researchers did not have specific skills or competencies required to design, conduct, or disseminate causally informative research studies. As discussed in Chapter 2, although the field continues to debate what constitutes scientifically valid research, the number of IES-funded research studies that have employed experimental and quasi-experimental research designs has increased substantially over the past 20 years, allowing for an increasing number of effectiveness and efficacy studies, and allowing for meta-analyses and research syntheses on several interventions and instructional practices across elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education.
From page 161...
... The postdoctoral training grants required mentors to develop trainees' ability to "communicate their research findings effectively to researchers, education policymakers, practitioners, and the public." In 2021, a Methods Training on implementation research was awarded to prepare researchers to gain skills for studying the use of research evidence by teachers, principals, and other school administrators, and a Methods Training on research to support program and policy decisions was awarded to prepare researchers in state and local education agencies. These training programs are intended to increase the likelihood that IES-trained researchers are prepared to work in collaboration with communities and schools in ways that lead to timely, relevant, and high-quality research.
From page 162...
... For example, in 2020, a Methods Training on selecting, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based interventions was awarded to build the capacity of researchers working in or with high-need school districts to use evidencebased interventions effectively to improve student and school outcomes. Such pursuits of improvement and innovation should continue in earnest, as the nation will continue to face many challenges to ensuring equitable educational outcomes for all learners.
From page 163...
... To better understand how current practices affect recruitment, participation, and retention in the training programs and to develop appropriate solutions to broaden participation, more detailed data on the racial, ethnic, gender, disability status, disciplinary, and institutional backgrounds of applicants and participants in the training programs must be collected
From page 164...
... More advanced scholars may be better equipped to take on the risk of a "career change" and lead others in the field in new directions. Thus, training in these methodological approaches needs to be offered, both in methods training opportunities for early and mid-career scholars, and in undergraduate, predoctoral, postdoctoral, and career-development training programs.
From page 165...
... . Another mechanism would be short-term research opportunity programs for undergraduate students, such as summer internships or formal training programs like the national McNair Scholars Program or the Big Ten's Summer Research Opportunities Programs.
From page 166...
... More broadly, careerdevelopment training programs can build in opportunities for trainees to engage with scholars at different career stages, as these opportunities may open new possibilities for trainees to receive mentoring or to gain skills via research site visits, "shadowing" opportunities, or research apprenticeships. These strategies focus not only on getting people into the field, but also on retaining them as they transition from undergraduate and graduate study into research careers in academic and nonacademic organizations.2 By leveraging their training programs for researchers at different career stages, NCER and NCSER would be well positioned to promote sustained career development and thereby support retention of education researchers (Byrd & Mason, 2021)
From page 167...
... Finally, another critical means to broaden participation in education research is to provide targeted funding for topics that scholars from underrepresented groups are interested in addressing. Some recent research (e.g., Hoppe et al., 2019)
From page 168...
... In addition, there is tangible value in ensuring that the field of education research is diverse insofar as it improves the overall quality of eventual research, increases the likelihood that issues of equity will be taken up in research, and supports the ultimate identity building of future researchers. RECOMMENDATION 7.3: IES should collect and publish information on the racial, ethnic, gender, disability status, disciplinary, and institutional backgrounds (types of institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities and MinorityServing Institutions)
From page 169...
... Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA)


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.