AERA Weighs In on IES Research Goals and Other Policy Issues

October 2017

In an October 2 letter, AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine submitted a response to the Institute of Education Sciences' invitation for public comment on two of its five research goals—Efficacy and Replication (Goal 3), and Effectiveness (Goal 4).

AERA recommendations included expanding replication research to more actively invite further analyses of original data sets, and supporting and requiring data sharing and archiving in a qualified third-party repository for primary data collection. In addition, Levine emphasized the role that IES could play in providing professional development for early career scholars on the principles of replication research, analysis of extant data, data privacy and confidentiality, and data management and use.

The IES invitation for public comment was part of a comprehensive, inclusive, and productive process to improve upon the current configuration of Goals 3 and 4, including a Technical Working Group meeting in October 2016.

NIH Definition of “Clinical Trial”

AERA joined 25 organizations on a letter to Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), regarding the implementation of the expanded definition of clinical trials. Announced last year, the revised definition classified studies that involve behavioral interventions as clinical trials, but there are concerns among researchers conducting basic science that their work will be considered a clinical trial, increasing the technical burdens and responsibility placed on them.

Multi-society Letter on Trump Executive Order on Travel Restrictions

AERA joined more than 70 scientific organizations in an October 17 letter to President Trump expressing concerns over a September 24 White House Executive Order placing restrictions on travel to the United States from three additional countries: Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela.

The letter reaffirms concerns raised in response to Trump’s travel ban targeting visitors from primarily-Muslim countries, stating, “The White House proclamation on visas and immigration has serious implications for diplomatic, humanitarian, and national security interests, in part because it weakens our U.S. science and engineering capacity.”