Sunday, April 19, 2009

A new direction for the Institute of Education Science?

Last week at the AERA annual meeting in San Diego, the director-designate of the Institute of Education Science made his first public appearance in his new role. Here are several highlights:
• John first met Arne when Duncan returned from Australia after playing BB to work on a school project in Chicago and couldn't get data from the Chicago Schools. He ultimately got the data from John and they struck up a good working relationship.
• Easton indicated that he views his role as more of a helper to get the answer rather than always having the answer
• Easton wrote a very interesting paper on the Chicago Consortium and his theory of action. See it here
• His final quote ---”I will be reaching out to you folks to define the next generation of IES".
The tone and substance are certainly different from the previous Administration. Does all of this point to a new direction for IES and its place in the ED? Tell us what you think.

2 comments:

Ludy van Broekhuizen (SERVE Center at UNCG) said...

This is a very positive direction for IES. Those of us who are integrally involved in bridging the gap between research and practice are excited about having input into what the next scopes of work will be for Regional Labs as well as what types of research [methodologies] will be funded through NCER. Bravo to the Secretary for making a solid choice for IES Director.

Anonymous said...

Why would he consider accepting such a post? With Obama's emphasis upon Native American education and early admission practices, there is likely to be some backlash.