American Educational Research Association

• Lawrence D. Bobo , the dean of social science at Harvard University, is the new chair of the AIR Board of Directors.
• Heppen is the seventh president and CEO in AIR’s 77-year history, and the first woman to serve in the role.
• She stepped down from the AIR Board of Directors after serving as its chair for more than 25 years.
• Bobo has been a member of the AIR Board since 1997 and most recently served as vice chair.

• Between 2019 and 2022, the Institute of Educational Sciences, the research and evaluation arm of the U.S. Education Department, distributed US$473 million in 255 grants to improve educational outcomes.
• In 2021, colleges and universities spent approximately $1.6 billion on educational research.
• The Educational Research Information Center, a federally run repository, houses 1.6 million educational research sources in over 1,000 scholarly journals.
• Each year, for instance, more than 15,000 educators and researchers gather to present or discuss educational research findings at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

Growing gaps

• During the same period, NAEP outcomes show stagnated growth in reading achievement among fourth graders.
• By eighth grade, there is a greater gap in reading achievement between the highest- and lowest-achieving students.
• Some education experts have even suggested that the chances for progress get dimmer for students as they get older.
• Here are four things I believe can be done in order to make sure that educational research is actually being applied.

1. Build better relationships with school leaders

Educational researchers can reach out to school leaders before doing their research in order to design research based on the needs of schools and schoolchildren. If school leaders can see how educational research can specifically benefit their school community, they may be more likely to implement findings and recommendations from the research.

2. Make policy and practice part of the research process

• By implementing new policies and practices based on research findings, researchers can work with school leaders to do further research to see if the new policies and practices actually work.
• Through the fund, $679 million was distributed through 67 grants – and 12 of those 67 funded projects improved student outcomes.

3. Rethink how research impact is measured

As part of the national rankings for colleges of education – that is, the schools that prepare schoolteachers for their careers – engagement with public schools could be made a factor in the rankings. The rankings could also include measurable educational impact.

4. Rethink and redefine how research is distributed

• Research findings written in everyday language could be distributed at conferences frequented by public school teachers and in the periodicals that they read.
• If research findings are to make a difference, I believe there has to be a stronger focus on using research to bring about real-world change in public schools.

• The results indicate that targeted instruction for undergraduate business school students positively impacted their performance as measured by CAE’s performance-based Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+).
• Using CAE’s performance-based assessments, Dr. Zahner and her colleagues investigated the level of critical thinking, problem solving, and written communication demonstrated by students entering and exiting higher education; how entering students perceived the importance of critical thinking skills for their academic and career success; and how the addition of critical thinking instruction impacted students’ critical thinking performance.
• “This study suggests that targeted critical thinking education works and does so without creating additional burdens on students or faculty.
• We are excited to continue studying this vitally important topic.”
  The study investigated more than 1,000 undergraduate business school students’ attitudes toward critical thinking skills and their performance on a critical thinking assessment given at the start of the semester.

• Arlington, Va., April 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Institutes for Research (AIR) is announcing two changes to its senior leadership team to support continued growth in human services research and technical assistance, and human resources:
  Julie Kochanek, a veteran researcher who has worked with federal, state and local agencies to study and use effective, evidence-based practices, has been named Senior Vice President for Human Services.
• Lesley Sepanloo, currently Vice President for Human Capital and Human Resources Operations, has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Human Resources.
• Prior to joining AIR, Kochanek was a principal research scientist at the Education Development Center and a senior research associate for Learning Point Associates.
• She is a member of the American Educational Research Association, the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, and the National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships.