What innovations can we as a community of research and practice apply to meet the Obama administration’s charge to increase higher education access and success, particularly among low-income, first-generation college-going students? This AERA presidential session will investigate this question and provide evidence on several creative and cost-effective strategies to support students to and through college. Presenters will discuss topics such as college financing and affordability, challenges students face in the transition from high school to college, and the academic needs of students once they arrive on their college campus. Further, they will provide insights and evidence on policy, programmatic and curricular innovations to contribute to increased postsecondary success. David Coleman, President of The College Board, will reflect on the role of the College Board, member school districts and universities, and policy partners in shaping the conversation and in taking innovative steps to improve student outcomes. Link to session
While much of the rhetoric of education reform focuses on what teachers and parents are or are not doing or on how different organizational models for schools (small schools, charter schools etc.), it can be argued that real reform in urban areas is more of a political question than a technical one. While we may get some gains in achievement with different models of schools or by changing how we train teachers, the vast funding disparities and demographic differences between urban schools and suburban schools are at the root of the problems politically isolated city schools face. Altering this landscape is a political issue. In light of this reality that much of education reform is a political problem, what role is there for researchers? How can research help to address a fundamentally political problem? What role can and should an organization like AERA play addressing the political reality of education reform? What do researchers need to do to successfully address education reform from this perspective? Link to session
Sullivan will speak about education research that is leading to innovative practices and policies at every level of education, from kindergarten through higher education, making the case for a continuum of innovation. Link to session
In 2002, the National Center for Education Research began. In 2003, NSF launched a Science of Learning Centers program. NCER aimed “to sponsor sustained research that will lead to the accumulation of knowledge and understanding of education”. The NSF Centers aimed to explore the cognitive and neural bases of learning to enable education to build on new discoveries. The aim of this symposium is to (a) reflect on the accomplishments of these initiatives, (b) consider prospects for a multidisciplinary science of learning and (c) explore the complex relationship between the science of learning and the education or learning sciences. Three of the participants represent 3 of the 6 Centers, and have participated in NCER projects as well, and a fourth participant gives a “user perspective” from an organization using research results to improve student success at scale. Link to session
This session will discuss the role of research and evaluation in the innovation ecosystem of the education sector worldwide. Reflections will come from OECD and non-OECD countries, with some specific examples from India, the United Kingdom and the United States. The session will address the issue from the multiple perspectives of innovators, researchers, evaluators and policy makers, and highlight the different roles that research can play for innovation, taking into account differences in countries and institutional settings. Innovators will reflect on what researchers and evaluators have brought to their enterprise, while researchers and evaluators will discuss what they see as the contribution of their research to educational innovations. All these perspectives will be discussed from a policy perspective as well. The session will contribute to the field by framing the debate in comparison with other sectors than education, by showcasing interesting research or evaluation methods, and by broadening our thinking about the interplay between research, the design of educational innovation and the creation of the social conditions for its scalability. Link to session
The major US educational reform now gaining momentum and a range of attention is the design and implementation of new assessments intended to measure the Common Core State Standards. Many States are involved in two major groups, and others are using their own designs to create assessments. This symposium addresses key validity criteria involving both assessment features and inferences drawn from data, how they support high-quality assessments measuring complex thinking and applicable domain learning. The symposia will include researchers who will describe the criteria and research needed to assure their use, as well as reactions from those in the consortia, commercial testing, and the policy community. Link to session
The population characteristics of the U.S. are changing dramatically; the majority origin population is expected to continue to decline while those from immigrant and minority backgrounds are expected to increase. This changing demographic is having a significant impact on U.S. society, especially in schools where questions regarding the quality of education immigrant students receive is of major concern. Research indicates that many immigrant children are failing to gain the skills and knowledge that will lead them to education advancement, economic security, civic engagement, and social and emotional well-being. Schools and communities have been chided as unresponsive to the needs of immigrant students. This panel discusses what the evidence tells us about the changes in our U.S. population and the implications it is likely to have for immigrant children, including: how schools should work with undocumented students; how to accommodate the needs of transnational children; and what should be the responses to policies hindering the educational futures of immigrant children. Link to session
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses the extent to which 15-year-old students have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies. The assessment, which focuses on reading, mathematics, science and problem-solving, does not just ascertain whether students can reproduce what they have learned; it also examines how well they can extrapolate from what they have learned and apply that knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of school. This approach reflects the fact that modern societies reward individuals not for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know. Andreas Schleicher, the Deputy Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the OECD's Secretary-General will present the 2012 PISA results for 28 million 15 years olds in 65 participating countries. Link to session
Saturday, April 5, 12:25 pm to 2:25 pm Convention Center, Terrace Level - Terrace I Session hashtag: #AERAAwards Link to session
States and districts have launched unprecedented efforts in recent years to build new feedback and evaluation systems that support teacher growth and development. To that end, the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project set out to investigate how a set of measures could identify effective teaching fairly and reliably. This session highlights a selection of chapters from a new volume reporting original research using the MET data set. Link to session
Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from many disciplinary backgrounds and political persuasions point to the promise of preschool. Economists and developmental scientists, for example, highlight the ways in which early interventions cascade into numerous long-term payoffs, and identify positive benefit-to-cost ratios from classic preschool interventions. Educators recognize how reducing school readiness gaps can better position schools to teach all students, especially important in an era of accountability. In this session, several prominent scholars will share new research; and, a leading federal policymaker will discuss the findings’ relevance, including what they mean as the Obama administration proposes greater investments in state pre-k at the same time that states -- facing budget constraints -- are asking whether recent expansions have paid off. Link to session
This session features social network analysis as it is used to study intra and inter school knowledge production and school leadership arrangements. Talks will 1) review findings concerning how educators are influenced by network members and how they select with whom to interact; 2) present research concerning networks of central office administrators as they engage research on district-wide reform; 3) describe efforts to develop tools intended to help states and districts identify the location of expertise relevant to curriculum, assessment, and professional development needed to implement Next Generation Science Standards; 4) present new directions in network analysis including two-mode network data (e.g., students and the courses they take), dynamic network processes and agent based simulations to study the emergence of network properties; and 5) discuss some fundamental epistemological and methodological challenges in using SNA to study knowledge production and school leadership and management. Link to session
In recent years there has been a flurry of activity regarding so-called “non-cognitive” factors affecting student success, referring to the non-IQ factors that cause learning and persistence. Broadly, interventions to increase self-regulation and to redirect student beliefs have had promising effects, in some cases causing lasting improvements for children across multiple domains of development. But what is truly known about these factors? How do their effects vary across contexts or age groups? And, perhaps more importantly, how can these insights from basic research be implemented in school settings to reliably improve student success? This session will present findings from some of the leading researchers on so-called non-cognitive factors affecting students, followed by a discussion of the implications of this research for school improvement and for broader theories of child development and student learning. Link to session
Chair: Taylor Martin Discussant: Edward Dieterle Participants: John T. Behrens Ryan Baker Marie Bienkowski Bob Wise
To enable personalized, lifelong learning, we need education researchers capable of unlocking insights contained in the growing tsunami of student- and teacher- generated data associated with digital tools and environments. Creating a talent base of education researchers with deep analytical talent won’t happen overnight. It will require prioritizing resources, developing and sustaining a professional infrastructure, and creating new research tools capable of capturing, analyzing, and visualizing experiences continuing all through life. It will necessitate changes in teaching and learning practices and new policies that strike an appropriate balance between protecting privacy and drawing on large volumes of learning data to advance education outcomes. And it will require strengthening collaboration among the sectors of the education enterprise. In this session, experts from academy, industry, government, practice, and philanthropy will draw from their professional experiences to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with learning analytics, providing worked examples and strategic priorities. Link to session