Dr. Alexandra K. Wigdor, Associate Executive Director, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences Education, National Research Council-Continued Financial Disclosure Answers to Post-Hearing Questions Dr. Maris A. Vinovskis, Professor, Department of History and School of Public Written Testimony Biography Financial Disclosure Answers to Post-Hearing Questions Page 122 123 128 139 140 141 APPENDIX 3: MATERIAL FOR THE RECORD Dr. Maris A. Vinovskis, "Missing in Practice? Systematic Development and Dr. Maris A. Vinovskis, “Restructuring the Office of Educational Research 146 209 HEARING ON EDUCATION RESEARCH: IS HURTING OUR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1999 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON BASIC RESEARCH, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:00 p.m., in Room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Nick Smith (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. Chairman SMITH. The Subcommittee on Basic Research will come to order for the purpose of having a hearing on education research. After 2000-plus years of experience, we still do not know the best way to raise and teach our kids. I see the goal of today's hearing to maybe be two-fold. First, how can the estimated $300 million a year that we spend on educational research be better utilized to help assure that each student learns to their maximum potential? Secondly, I would like an evaluation of whether taxpayers are getting their money's worth in terms of the quality of the research, the dissemination of the research, and the utilization of that research in our school systems. I doubt there are many people who would argue against basing education practices-what we teach our children and how it gets taught on methods that work. So, how are we discovering the methods that work, and how do we get that information to school systems that can utilize it? New teaching methods often get introduced into classrooms with little data proving that they are actually the right teaching methods that have a positive effect. The studies that are done are too often not done in a scientific way it would seem and with adequate control groups or other methods that minimize bias. Too often we end up with popular theories favored by education community leaders maybe rather than the proven methods. We find ourselves in a situation where some experts tell us one thing, that reducing class size, for example, to 15 or 17 students makes a big difference, and other experts say it is the quality of the teachers. And so a lot of different information. Is the research really moving us towards the proposition that we are coming closer to allowing every student to maximize their learning to their fullest potential? Is there definitive research? And assuming it exists, how do we recognize it? (1) A larger and larger body of research is accumulating about how the brain works and, more specifically, how people learn. Neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, developmental biologists, and even computer scientists, to name just a few, are making fascinating discoveries about how the brain develops and the cellular and molecular underpinnings of learning. This research is I think tremendously exciting, but it is not clear to me how or whether this type of research has a meaningful impact on education practice. As this new body of research develops, we have to build a stronger bridge between the new discoveries and what actually happens in the classroom. I turned on the radio at 3:00 the other morning and heard a rerun of Dr. Laura. She was advocating that it is important that two parents be there and make a commitment that they are going to raise that offspring, that child in the best possible way. And as I have met with educators and teachers around my 7th Congressional District in Michigan, I think there is almost unanimous agreement that the impact of the supportive parents who do the right kind of encouraging, plus require homework is probably one of the keys that has resulted in the most success as those teachers evaluate those students that have a better chance of making it. I think there are a lot of questions and issues, many of them are not new. Certainly, there are a lot of efforts underway to address some of them. Dr. Laura's suggestion of that parent commitment may have done more to encourage better learning and better education than possibly a lot of the research that we are doing. Is it possible to look into research areas that somehow do a better job of teaching, educating, and motivating of parents in their effort of being there for 18 hours a day encouraging their kids. Today, we have invited representatives from three Federal agencies involved in doing or sponsoring education research to tell us about the efforts they are undertaking to bolster and improve education research, in part by working together on a multi-agency initiative. We will also hear about a new plan put forth by the National Research Council to address these same issues. I look forward to hearing from our panel today about what we are doing right, what we could be doing better, what still remains to be done when it comes to education research. There is no question that Eddie Bernice Johnson and I feel that education and how we pursue education is key to our future success in this country and certainly in the world. With that, I would call on one of our education enthusiasts in the United States Congress, Representative Johnson. Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Permit me to join you in welcoming our witnesses. We are delighted that you have come. In 1995, the President's Committee on Advisors on Science and Technology formed a panel to study applications of technology and K through 12 education. Two years ago the Science Committee received testimony on the findings of the study from David Shaw, who chaired the panel. Two major themes that emerged from the Shaw panel's report were: inadequacy of education research funding, and the absence of activities focused on connecting research to effective learning strategies in the classroom. The Shaw panel described the anemic funding for education research, pointing out that less than one-tenth of one percent of the national K through 12 education budget is allocated for research. It is recommended ramping up the national investment in education research to $1.5 billion per year. Reasonable people may disagree on the appropriate level for funding education research, but the current level of education research is lacking. We cannot hope to educate tomorrow's employees and managers without more basic research into what works in the classroom. Our technology based society is under constant change and additional research will help us master these changes. Another prominent recommendation of the Shaw panel was for a major Federal investment in large-scale, rigorous, well-controlled, empirical research aimed at determining which educational approaches are most effective in practice. The Shaw report was a major impetus for the Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI) that was initiated this year and will be reviewed at today's hearing. I believe that establishing this Education Research Initiative is commendable, and I look forward to hearing about its status. But I cannot help noting that the first year's funding for IERI totals only $28 million, with no contribution at all from one partner, the National Institutes of Health. We simply cannot afford to lapse back, and we cannot afford to go forward. This is a very small start toward the Shaw report's call for a major research initiative and for a greatly expanded research investment. Of course, funding is only one part of the equation for instituting an effective program of education research; and by effective, I mean research that will actually result in improved learning in classrooms across the Nation. Current education research activities appear to be uncoordinated, and practitioners largely ignore the research findings. Adding money to do more of the same does not appear to be a productive approach. Consequently, I am very interested in learning more about the proposal from the National Research Council for a Strategic Education Research Program. The scale and focus of the proposed program seem to be consistent with achieving the goal of identifying the policies and practices that will lead to improved student learning in all schools. The question is whether the framework of the proposed research program is feasible and will lead to the kinds of collaborations required among researchers, practitioners, funding agents, and policymakers. The importance of K through 12 education to the Nation's future is without question, and the national investment of well over $300 billion per year is consistent with this importance. In order to derive the maximum benefit from this substantial investment, we must end the apparent disconnect between educational practice and basic research on human development and learning. Educational reform will have a much greater chance to succeed if informed by qualified knowledge of what works. I congratulate the Chairman for calling this hearing. He and I both are very interested in the future of our Nation and we cannot show that, nor can we express that without thinking about the quality of education which it offers. So I am pleased to join him in welcoming our witnesses once again. There is no subject more important for the subcommittee to consider. I look forward to our discussion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman SMITH. Thank you. And without objection, all additional opening statements submitted by the subcommittee members will be inserted into the record. Without objection, so ordered. But also I would like to invite the members present, Representative Woolsey, Representative Rivers, Bob Etheridge, and certainly our Vice Chairman of our full Science Committee, if you would like to make a one minute statement in this area and then follow up. Mr. Ehlers. Mr. EHLERS. Thank you very much. Very briefly, the Speaker and the Chairman of the Science Committee have given me a special assignment, to try to improve math/science education in the United States. That is a very daunting task. But in response to the question of this hearing, Education Research: Is What We Don't Know Hurting our Children? The answer is, yes, of course. Not only that, it is hurting us and it is hurting our country. I believe it is an issue of that importance. I think it is also extremely important as part of trying to improve science and math education in this country, we have to improve our research efforts so that we know what we are doing. I cannot imagine any industrial operation with an annual budget of $300 billion which would spend just $30 million on research. That is 0.01 percent. What company could stay in business if it spent only 0.01 percent of its effort on research? That is the problem that we face. I yield back. Chairman SMITH. The gentlewoman from California, Representative Woolsey. Ms. WOOLSEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for this hearing today. Congressman Ehlers and I are part of a very small group of members that are on both this committee and the education committee, so we find ourselves working on the same things together, which is always good I think. In this case, that is learning what our children need, and particularly from my perspective, learning what young women need to do in order to go into the math, science, technology, and electronics manufacturing fields, the high-tech fields that pay a livable wage. So I am very interested today to see if any of your research has gotten to that question of why young women are dropping out of those fields way too early and not being interested enough, and therefore we are going after more H-1 visas to fill the jobs that pay the really good wages in this Nation. So thank you for being here. I will have my ears open for that and the other input you are going to give us. Thank you. Chairman SMITH. Representative Rivers. Ms. RIVERS. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am very pleased to have an opportunity to hear the testimony from each of you today. This is a huge issue. But given that there are four members from Michigan on this panel, only three of us here right now but the fourth may well show up, we are particularly pleased to have Dr. Vinovskis here representing the maze and blue. I welcome you and am very pleased to see you. Thank you. |