Learning&Technology	Lesson 2: Readings (1)	-

Improving student learning: A strategic plan for education research and its utilization.

(National Research Council, Committee on a Feasibility Study for a Strategic Education Research Program, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Academy of Sciences).

Wallace, R. C. (Chair). (1999).

Washington, DC: National Academy Press. [Online].
Retrieved February 24, 2001, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309064899/html/

Abstracted by Anne Daugherty

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In 1996 the National Research Council--a branch of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering--began a program of research focused on four topics judged to be of crucial importance for improving student learning in schools. The study, conducted by a committee of education researchers, practitioners, policy makers and other experts, focused on four questions:

1. How can advances in research on human cognition, development, and learning be incorporated into educational practice?
2. How can student engagement in the learning process and motivation to achievement in school be increased?
3. How can schools and school districts be transformed into organizations that have the capacity to continuously improve their practices?
4. How can the use of research knowledge be increased in schools and school districts?

To answer these questions, the committee calls for a program of research, demonstration, and evaluation, mostly in school settings, and in particular, in challenged, typically high-poverty urban schools. The establishment of four interconnected networks--learning and instruction, student motivation, transforming schools, and utilization--is proposed. Each network will include distinguished researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, supported by a national coalition of public and private funding.

The committee envisages that the program, called the Strategic Education Research Program (SERP), will continue for at least 15 years, with significant contributions to educational systems possible within the first 5-7 years. The committee also proposes a new model for education research with six features:

1. promotion of collaborative and interdisciplinary work;
2. provision of constant, ongoing commitment on the part of core teams of researchers;
3. a built-in partnership with the practice and policy communities;
4. iterative and interactive interplay between basic and applied research in a structure that combines the richness of field-initiated research and the purpose of program-driven research;
5. a plan that is sustained over a long enough time for results to be cumulative; and
6. an overall structure that is cumulative in nature--each step planned to build on previous steps.