AERA Highlights July 2014

July 2014

AERA News
*New Edition of Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing* To Be Released This Month** The new edition of Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing will be released at the end of this month. Standards is a joint product of AERA, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education.
AERA Council Urges U.S. Ratification of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Citing AERA’s “longstanding commitment to access of persons with disabilities in the field of education research, in other scientific fields, and in education across the life span,” the Council last month endorsed a resolution urging U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
AERA Council Endorses Key Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure The AERA Council last month voted to endorse the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure issued by the American Association of University Professors and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
New Videos: Ten AERA Leaders Offer Perspectives on 2015 Annual Meeting Theme AERA leaders discuss the meaning and importance of the 2015 Annual Meeting Theme—"Toward Justice: Culture, Language, and Heritage in Education Research and Praxis"—in eleven videos featured on the AERA website.
2014 Annual Meeting Papers Now Available in Open-Access Online Repository More than 3,120 full-text papers from research presentations given at the 2014 AERA Annual Meeting have been added to AERA’s open-access Online Paper Repository. In total, more than 18,000 papers from the past five AERA annual meetings are available online.
AERA Announces Minority Dissertation Fellowship Recipients Nine exemplary graduate students have been selected to receive the 2014–2015 AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship in Education Research and Travel Awards.

Federal Policy News
OMB Seeks Comment on Statistical Policy Directive On May 21, the Federal Register published a request for comments from the Office of Management and Budget on a proposed Statistical Policy Directive for federal statistical agencies.
House and Senate Release Proposals for Higher Education Act Reauthorization Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, released their respective drafts for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in late June.
House Subcommittees Hold Hearing on Student Data Privacy A House hearing last month, titled How Data Mining Threatens Student Privacy, focused on the risks and responsibilities that arise in acquiring, using, and storing student data and the role that various stakeholders play in protecting the confidentiality of personally identifiable information.

AERA Calls
Call for Annual Meeting Submissions – Deadline: July 22 Call for Prospective Nominees for 2015 AERA Elections – Deadline: July 25 Call for Education Research Conference Proposals – Deadline: September 10 Call for Award Nominations – Deadline: October 15 *Call for Nominees and Applications for American Educational Research Journal* Editorship**

Appointments Around Town
Heidi Schweingruber Named New Director of Board on Science Education at NRC Heidi Schweingruber has been named the new director of the Board on Science Education at the National Research Council of the National Academies.
William T. Riley Appointed Acting Director of NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research William T. Riley was recently appointed acting director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health.
Jacqueline Jones Named President of the Foundation for Child Development Effective September 2, Jacqueline Jones will be president of the Foundation for Child Development.

Reports of Interest
OECD Releases First PISA Assessment of Financial Literacy New Report Examines How Civic Health Can Be Measured and Used to Inform Policy NCES Releases Second Follow-Up to 2008 “Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study” NCES Releases New Data on Postsecondary Tuition, Fees, and Degrees

AERA in the News
Explicit Instruction Works Best for Struggling Math Students U.S. News & World Report, June 26 Here’s How Not to Teach First-Grade Math Pacific Standard, June 26 Missing the Expected Impact Inside Higher Ed, June 20 D.C. Dumping Test Scores From Its Teacher Evaluations Associated Press (via Huffington Post), June 19 Some Observations on Ed Research and Journalism Education Week, June 16 More AERA in the News

AERA Highlights is published by the American Educational Research Association monthly to inform members and others interested in education research about the latest news and developments in AERA and in the field. Editor: Felice J. Levine Managing Editors: Tony Pals and John Neikirk Contributors: Maurice Brown, Lauren Green, Bridget Jameson, Christy Talbot, George Wimberly, Martha Yager