A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

The Director's Column

Fields such as medicine and agriculture have made tremendous advances over the past century largely because they have been successful in using research. Findings with real potential to improve education practice are emerging from recent education research.

We have been asking ourselves how we can do a better job of communicating significant research ideas to those who need them. We recently launched our first newsletter which featured research on teacher knowledge and professional development. This issue highlights learning communities. Our next issue will focus on how the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) can provide benchmarks for school improvement.

Our first issue was distributed to about 25,000 policymakers, practitioners, and researchers primarily at the national, state, and district levels. With this issue, we are expanding distribution to 90,000 schools. We know the information that can be communicated in a four-page newsletter is limited, but we hope that by using references to important studies, research Web sites, and information about our grantees, you can access more in-depth knowledge.

We sincerely welcome feedback from our readers, especially at the school level, that will help us decide whether to continue investing in a wider distribution. Please take a moment to give us your opinion and suggest future topics.

Deborah Inman

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[Institute Makes New Field-Initiated Research Grant Awards] [Credits]