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[Field-Initiated Studies Grants Awarded] The Policy Forum, Vol. 1, No. 1 - October 1997
The National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policy Making, and Management is part of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education. The Institute was created by the Education Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994.
The Institute's mission is to provide leadership and support for research and development examining the critical governance, finance, policy making and management aspects of teaching and learning. The purpose of the work is to unearth findings with long-term consequences for policy makers and educators and to disseminate those findings in the most useful ways to help them design, implement, and sustain effective education reforms. The legislation authorizes the Institute to:
The Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE)--University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CPRE is supported by the Institute to conduct a five-year program of education research and development under The National Center on Increasing the Effectiveness of State and Local Reform Efforts. The Center's research focuses on such topics as building state and local capacity for reform, systems of accountability, coherence of policy approaches, student and teacher standards, education governance, school finance, and teacher compensation.
The Center on Policy and Teaching Excellence--University of Washington, Stanford University, Teachers College/Columbia University, and University of Michigan. This Center is supported by the Institute to conduct research and development on a range of policy issues associated with achieving the goal of teaching excellence and the effects that such policies have on continuous school improvement, teacher performance, and student learning.
Under this program, the Institute in FY96 awarded five multi-year grants to study the following topics: professional development in low achieving schools, state mandated accountability for reform, the effects of school choice on student achievement and opportunity, school leadership and racial and ethnic harmony, specialization and reform of mathematics instruction, and charter schools and professional development schools.
This research is a collaboration among the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education. The ultimate purpose of this work is to help states design, implement, and sustain successful policies and practices that will improve the quality of America's teachers, in response to the recommendations of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
The Institute has contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive National Study of Education Finance. This 3 1/2 year project focuses on financing K-12 education in the United States and addresses the following key question: How can education finance systems be designed to assure that all students achieve high levels of learning and that education funds are used in the most productive manner?
This four-year study, conducted by RPP International, takes a comprehensive look at the operation and effects of charter schools by surveying all charter schools in the nation annually and conducting site visits and assessing student achievement in a large sample of charter schools.
These studies, conducted by RPP International and the Learning Research and Development Center, develop prototypical strategies and procedures, solidly grounded in theory and empirical evidence to build schools where all students perform at high levels.
The Institute is collaborating with the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Education Commission of the States to make research more useful for education policy makers. Work in this area will focus on the topics of teacher professional development, the policy impacts of the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), policy issues related to the development and implementation of charter schools, educational accountability, and the concept of educational adequacy as it relates to education finance and education reform.
The Institute continuously works with national organizations, associations, and government agencies engaged in supporting or monitoring education reform, both to advance the field and to establish a regular, systematic means for assessing clients' information needs. The Institute also maintains an on-going program of activities designed to inform clients about education research developments related to governance, finance, policy making and management.
National Institute on Educational
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The National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policy Making, and Management has a World Wide Web site which contains more detailed information located at: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OERI/GFI/
The street and e-mail addresses for the Institute are:
National Institute on Educational Governance,
Finance, Policy Making, and Management
OERI, U.S. Department of Education
555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Room 608,
Washington, DC 20208-5510
Telephone: 202-219-2032
Fax: 202-219-2159
E-mail: gfi@ed.gov
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[The Director's column] [Field-Initiated Studies Grants Awarded]