Nearly a year ago, a group of scholars working in education decided to form a professional society focused on advancing scientifically rigorous studies that could yield definitive answers on what works in education.
Since then, the fledgling group, known as the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, has attracted 250 dues-paying members from a range of academic disciplines and research traditions. Last week, as the society kicked off its inaugural conference here, one of the biggest questions its members faced was how big to make its tent.
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鈥淎fter listening to two days of talks, I fear the education research community has the same problem that鈥檚 been attributed to math education鈥攖hat it鈥檚 a 鈥榤ile wide and an inch deep,鈥� 鈥� said Judith D. Singer, a statistician from Harvard University鈥檚 graduate school of education and a member of the society鈥檚 advisory board.
鈥淲e all have chosen a particular piece of the landscape,鈥� she continued, 鈥渂ut I find myself saying, 鈥榃here should we place our beliefs?鈥� 鈥�
Supported by a three-year, $760,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Institute of Education Sciences, the society largely broke off from the 18,000-member American Educational Research Association, based in Washington. (鈥淩eview Process for U.S. Education Research Approved,鈥� Feb. 1, 2006.)
The society鈥檚 mission is to provide a common forum for scholars interested in research that probes 鈥渃ause-and-effect relationships鈥� in education. The gold standard for assessing cause and effect is widely thought to be randomized control trials鈥攕tudies in which students may be assigned by chance to either control or experimental groups.
Though widely used in medicine, such studies are far rarer, and often controversial, in education research鈥攁nd typically are a tiny fraction of the studies presented at annual AERA gatherings.
Those attending last week鈥檚 conference, though, heard presentations on a variety of research methodologies, including both randomized and nonrandomized research designs. The standing-room-only event drew 135 participants, and organizers turned away dozens of others.
From the public-health field, researchers presented findings from randomized studies on programs that have succeeded in promoting children鈥檚 social and character development and improving classroom management.
And a cognitive scientist discussed a study on science education that involved small numbers of children working with springs and ramps in laboratory settings鈥攁 contrast to the kind of randomized studies that encompass large numbers of classrooms, schools, or districts.
Depth vs. Breadth
Mark A. Constas, a co-chairman of the group, said the discussion on alternative research methodologies had been largely unplanned. The experts who were invited to speak decided on their own to focus on topics such as 鈥渞egression discontinuity analyses,鈥� and other nonexperimental research approaches.
Yet the discussion on various research approaches was a 鈥渘otable achievement鈥� for the society 鈥渂ecause the criticism out there about us is that we are very much confined methodologically,鈥� said Mr. Constas, an associate professor of education at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where the society is based.
The input from other disciplines such as public health, meanwhile, had been planned in advance, he said.
The organization invited the public-health researchers in part so that members could learn from that field鈥檚 longer track record in school-based experiments, said Mr. Constas, who co-founded the group with Larry V. Hedges, a professor of statistics and policy research at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
Mr. Constas said the society also plans to build bridges to education experts who specialize in translating research into practice.
鈥淎lways, the end goal is getting toward the kind of research that supports cause-and-effect inferences,鈥� he added. 鈥淭he most successful scientific societies are noted for their depth rather than for their breadth.鈥�
The society鈥檚 upcoming projects include a research journal slated to start in January 2008; an online publication, due out in the fall of next year, that is aimed at policymakers and practitioners; and a handbook of research on educational effectiveness. The society also plans to launch efforts to train budding education researchers in the skills they need to conduct experimental work.
In an address at the conference, Grover J. 鈥淩uss鈥� Whitehurst, the director of the Institute of Education Sciences, which has led the Education Department鈥檚 ongoing campaign to transform education into an evidence-based field, urged the society to take on yet another mission: advocacy.
鈥淚 suggest as you become a little more mature as an organization that you think about adding to your mission public-policy advocacy for the type of research that you are committed to doing as individuals,鈥� he said. 鈥淔rankly, it鈥檚 lonely out there.鈥�
