The imbalance is leaving many important issues and questions unexamined, many worthwhile activities forsaken or foreshortened, and several of OERI's older programs unrepaired. For example, in 1988 we will be unable to carry out studies of the school reform movement and syntheses of research and effective practice in critical areas, including early childhood education and the effectiveness of middle schools and schools serving low-income, low-achieving students. Nor will we be able to maintain the OERI Research Fellows Program which we revived from its long dormancy with seven fellows in 1986 and five in 1987 and we've had to curtail the Teachers as Researchers grant program. Likewise, the ERIC system is in urgent need of change and improvement, but most of these plans must also go unrealized this year. Our fiscal year 1989 budget contains funding recommendations that will allow us to begin remedying this imbalance and making improvements in the research, improvement, and dissemination portions of OERI. Our request includes a doubling in funds for fieldinitiated research, where in 1986 and 1987 combined we were able to support just 19 of 438 proposed projects. It also contains more adequate funding for the Fellows Program, the Teachers as Researchers Program, for ERIC improvements, for appraisals of the reform movement, and for a variety of research syntheses on important topics. The request before you represents the last opportunity for this administration to work with the Congress to complement the improvements made in statistics with a rejuvenated research, improvement, and dissemination capability. But we do not ask for our own sake. Many organizations and individuals are beginning to understand OERI's potential and proposing that we be strengthened. The National Governors Association, for example, in its 1987 follow-up to Time for Results, said "Governors want to know what works and how well it works," and it urged us to "Strengthen the Federal commitment to research, information collection, and dissemination." Similarly, the Committee for Economic Development, in last year's Children in Need: Investment Strategies for the Educationally Disadvantaged, called for "...the federal government to fund high-quality research, development, evaluation, and technical assistance...' Individuals as diverse as the head of the American Federation of Teachers and the head of Xerox have called for an invigorated OERI. Albert Shanker, president of the AFT, has, in numerous "Where We Stand" editorials, called for an increase in Federal support for education research, statistics, and assessment. And David Kearns, the Chairman of the Xerox Corporation, in a muchheralded speech in Detroit last October, remarked that "The one area in which Washington ought to excel and doesn't is research...At least...$300 million should be appropriated for research on school and classroom organization, learning theories and instructional techniques, and on emerging educational technologies." These individuals and organizations recognize that OERI has the makings of a valuable public service enterprise, is doing good work, and could contribute still more if given the wherewithal. The largest portion of the 1989 request would again support continuation of long-established programs and activities, such as the Regional Educational Laboratories, the university-based Educa tional Research and Development Centers, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and the Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC). The remainder would provide for much-needed improvements, some of which have been postponed from earlier years. It would enable us to continue to strengthen most of the major datagathering and assessment activities of the Center for Education Statistics, initiate two new research centers (one to study the effective education of the disadvantaged and one to study civics and citizenship education), double the field-initiated research program, improve the ERIC system, expand our appraisals of the impact and effectiveness of school reforms, and upgrade an array of systems and projects for disseminating information to practitioners, parents, and policymakers. Let me note a few of the highlights. Center for Education Statistics Our $29.5 million request for the Center represents an $8.5 million increase over the 1988 appropriations, though it must be noted that over 40 percent of this increase will support studies previously funded from other Department appropriations (though conducted by the Center): the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey, high school transcript studies, and the annual, multi-agency Doctoral Records study. Among the new projects to be undertaken by the Center are support of a portion of a new international reading literacy study, a study of transition and retention patterns in postsecondary schooling, and better efforts to gather library statistics. Office of Research About $16.7 million of the $23.4 million Office of Research request would provide continued support to 18 university-based centers. An additional $2.1 million would launch the two new centers mentioned earlier. We also propose to increase funding for the "field-initiated" studies program to $1 million. And the Office of Research would spend the remaining funds on research into school reform, productivity in higher education, parent involvement, early childhood learning, student motivation, and reading and literacy. Programs for the Improvement of Practice Some $17.6 million of our $19.8 million request for Programs for the Improvement of Practice would be used for continued funding of the nine regional educational laboratories, which in fiscal year 1989 will be in the fourth year of their current five-year contracts. We would pursue a range of activities with the nearly $2 million remaining. Like the Office of Research, Programs for the Improvement of Practice would track and evaluate the education reform movement and would produce publications about successful education improvement measures. The unit would also produce a series of booklets or syntheses bringing solid research to bear on education problems such as school discipline, coping with ability differences, and choosing a good preschool program. Information Services Information Services is OERI's publishing and dissemination unit, making education information widely available and easily accessible to practitioners, policymakers, parents, and the general public. $6.7 million of this unit's $8.3 million budget supports the ERIC system. Additional funds sought here would support the ERIC Facility and ACCESS ERIC. The remainder of funds for Information Services would be used for OERI publishing (we expect almost 150 publications during 1989), dissemination, and outreach efforts, OERI electronic data systems, and the Department of Education Research Library. Conclusion This budget plan represents a good-faith effort by the Administration to restore quality, breadth, and reliability to the Nation's education research and statistics efforts. It will round out recent efforts to buttress and complete the statistical database and will begin the needed renaissance of federally-sponsored research, improvement, and dissemination efforts. We at OERI are prepared to do out part in making these efforts succeed. the Congress to join us in this endeavor. We invite My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have. |