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Statement by
Marshall S. Smith
Under Secretary
on the
Fiscal Year 1998 Budget Request for
Education Research, Statistics, and Improvement
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
Iam pleased to have the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the President's proposed 1998 budget for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). The total request for OERI is slightly more than $500 million, less than 2 percent of our entire budget, but the activities represent an essential component of the Department's overall effort and in many ways undergird our requests in other areas.
I say this because the Department's budget reflects the best research about what works in education. For example, the recently announced results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, supported by the National Center for Education Statistics, showed that differences in academic performance are linked primarily to what is taught and how it is taught. TIMSS showed that higher-level academic content--taught by teachers with a deep understanding of that content and how to teach it--leads to improved student performance. TIMSS highlighted the importance of setting tough standards in mathematics, such as those proposed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and of making sure teachers are prepared to teach to those standards.
The findings of TIMSS reinforced other research and development carried out in the United States over the past 20 years. Cognitive science and careful school improvement efforts, such as "Success for All," also supported by OERI, make it clear that all children can learn to far higher standards than we currently ask of them. Common sense and thoughtful studies tell us that the content of the curriculum is important. We also know from research that the way you teach matters--another point underscored by TIMSS. There are many examples of how past research has provided us with knowledge to improve our schools. And TIMSS illustrates the importance of continued efforts in research to refine our understandings of how to improve teaching and increase learning.
OERI's legislation calls upon the office to provide research-based leadership for education reform and improvement. The National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board provides essential advice and support as OERI goes about this mission. In December 1996, the Assistant Secretary for OERI and the Policy and Priorities Board jointly published, Building Knowledge for a Nation of Learners: A Framework for Education Research. This congressionally mandated report was the culmination of nearly three years of painstaking collaboration with researchers, educators, other agencies and offices, Federal and non-Federal, and community members. It was preceded by numerous meetings, including meetings hosted by the Board in collaboration with the Spencer Foundation and others to discuss a whole range of issues, including, for example, the implications of brain research for education research, research in the area of technology and education, new perspectives for education research, and needed work related to translating research findings into strategies for improving education practice. In its many deliberations, OERI and the Board heard repeatedly from parents, teachers, researchers, and policymakers that we need high quality research with results we can count on and research that takes into account the real world conditions in which teaching and learning take place. We also heard that we need to bridge the gap between research and practice.
Taking these and other recommendations into account, the Board and OERI set out seven priorities for research in education. These seven priorities guide the investments of OERI, they provide a framework for decisions by other offices in the Department that support research, and we hope they will serve as a starting point for a larger national conversation about investments, both public and private, in research related to education.
The Board is also working closely with OERI to develop standards and peer review procedures to be used in carrying out three major OERI responsibilities--evaluating and selecting applications for funding, identifying promising and effective practices and programs for wide dissemination, and assessing the performance of all recipients OERI funds. These activities are required by the authorizing statute, but they also respond to the concerns expressed by so many of the participants in the deliberations regarding the research priorities.
Our 1998 request includes $62.3 million for the five national education research institutes, an increase of 15 percent over the 1997 level. The institutes support university-based research and development centers, field-initiated studies, crosscutting investigations, and other special studies.
The funds requested will support ongoing work to help us understand, among other things, how to enhance the early development and learning of young children, especially those in impoverished communities and how to improve early reading achievement so that all children are able to read to learn basic academic content; how to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science so that all children can be prepared for college and for work in our increasingly complex world; how to transform schools for at-risk students so that all children become successful achievers and how to identify and reconstitute failing schools; and how to improve State and local policies to assure excellence in teaching.
The increase in funding is needed to help States, universities, and school districts design and test specific strategies for improving all aspects of teacher preparation and development. We also want to pilot test strategies for building high performance learning communities in high poverty areas. Finally, we will support approximately 25 new studies that will enable investigators across the country to bring their variety of perspectives and disciplines to bear on issues that they identify, including issues of immediate concern to practitioners and policymakers. This plan for 1998 reflects the Board's advice. Among its seven research priorities, the Board identified improving teaching and strengthening schools as the two priorities in which increased investment was most needed. The Board also recommended increased investment in field-initiated studies addressing the seven priorities.
For the ten regional educational laboratories, the request includes $53.5 million, an increase of $2.5 million over the 1997 level. The increase is needed for an evaluation of the laboratories mandated by the authorizing statute. In addition to providing important information about the effectiveness of individual laboratories, which they can use for improvement purposes, the evaluation will help us structure the next laboratory competition in 2000 and possibly point to changes for the next authorization of the program. Through applied research and development and the dissemination of research-based materials and strategies, the laboratories provide assistance to address local needs according to priorities identified by their regional governing boards. The governing boards are composed of chief State school officers, teachers, administrators, researchers, and other members of the public.
Our request also includes $18.8 million, essentially level funding, for national dissemination activities. These funds will support the operations of the National Library of Education and the Library's Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). ERIC is an award-winning network of 16 subject-specific clearinghouses and supporting services, such as AskERIC. Each month, AskERIC provides answers to approximately 3,000 queries from parents, teachers, policymakers, and researchers for education-related information. A new clearinghouse on school facilities, to be established this summer, will provide information and technical assistance related to planning, designing, renovating, constructing, and financing educational facilities.
We will also continue the Institutional Communications Network, which links the National Library of Education, OERI-funded institutions, and other Department services with schools, educators, parents, and policymakers. The program currently includes the Internet and World Wide Web presence of the National Library of Education and the Department of Education and provides a growing number of users--at least 75,000 weekly--with electronic access to research findings, programs, and Department initiatives. New information is added daily, with current attention focused on expanding a "digital library" of Department statistics and publications for users to read and download. The Department's web site continues to win Internet recognition, and the number of visitors continues to grow.
A crucial aspect of OERI's mission is providing the Nation with reliable data on the condition of education in America. Without the information gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics, we would not know how much American children are learning, what progress they are making, how well education reforms are working, or where our students stand compared to other students around the world. NCES has a solid track record of providing the Nation with accurate information collected through large-scale surveys and assessments.
Our 1998 request includes $66.3 million, an increase of one-third over the 1997 level, for the data collection, analysis, and reporting activities of NCES, exclusive of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The increase will allow us to support our core activities--and continue to provide the public and policymakers with data they have come to rely on--while pursuing activities in several crucial areas that have been under-supported. One of the most important of these activities is the early childhood longitudinal study. Research has confirmed that early learning is critical to later educational success. Indeed, brain research points to the importance to children's development of experiences from the earliest weeks and months of their lives. The early childhood study, which we have designed in consultation with early childhood researchers and educators, the Head Start program at HHS, and the child development program at USDA, will fill a major gap in knowledge about children's educational growth and development. The birth cohort will allow us to examine children's earliest development and early learning, and the kindergarten cohort will allow us to examine the transition to school and learning in the early grades.
The additional funds will also allow us to expand our international analyses--including allowing local school districts to have the TIMSS tests administered in their schools so that they can compare the performance of their students with that of students in other countries. The funds will help us continue the national postsecondary student aid study on a four-year cycle. This study provides comprehensive data about students who receive Federal aid and students who do not. It is an important source of information for policy analyses related to Federal student aid. The increase will also permit us to support a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey in order to collect information about personal crimes of violence and theft committed inside school buildings or on school property. Finally, the increase will support planning for two new studies. One is a new longitudinal study of adolescents as they progress through high school, which will collect data on issues such as equity and access, cognitive growth in core subjects, tracking, and school effectiveness. The second is a new study of adult literacy that will allow NCES to measure how far the U.S. has progressed over the course of the decade in its goal of increasing adult literacy.
Our 1998 request also includes $38.4 million for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), including the activities of the National Assessment Governing Board. NAEP provides the only nationally representative indicator of what our children know and can do in core academic subjects and is one of the best measures of student achievement and progress in educational improvement. The request includes funds to conduct national and State assessments in fourth grade reading to assess progress toward the goal of the America Reads Challenge--all children reading independently by the fourth grade.
The President has challenged the private sector, schools, teachers, parents, students, community groups, and government at all levels to work together to integrate technology fully into school curricula. Our request includes $75 million, an increase of almost one-third over the 1997 level, for Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, which complement the infrastructure support provided by the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund. The challenge grants provide powerful models of how technology can be used and integrated effectively into school curricula to enhance learning opportunities and improve achievement for all students. The increase requested will allow us to support 20 new high-quality models in 1998. This program is highly competitive, generating nearly 600 applications each year. With core funding of $75 million provided annually, we will be able to initiate 20 new models each year. The first round of grants, made in 1995, will receive their final year of funding in 1998.
Our request also includes $26 million for Star Schools. Our emphasis in this program will be to encourage the use of multiple technologies to provide students with Advanced Placement courses and other advanced learning opportunities to which they would not otherwise have access.
We are requesting level funding for the Regional Technology in Education Consortia, which provide technical assistance to States and districts in the implementation of technology plans and the integration of technology into school curricula, and for the Ready to Learn Television program, which is developing educational video for preschool and elementary school children and their parents. A daily literacy series and a weekly show for parents will begin to air in 1998.
Our request for technology also includes funding for the Telecommunications Demonstration Project for Mathematics. We are proposing to double funding for this project, to $2 million, in order to increase the number of teachers who can participate in the professional development activities provided by MATHLINE, a service of the Public Broadcasting Service. Through videos and on-line communication, MATHLINE uses an alternative approach to professional development that allows teachers to learn at times and locations they find convenient. MATHLINE provides services to elementary and middle school teachers based on the professional teaching standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
We are requesting $30 million, an increase of 125 percent over the 1997 level, for Eisenhower Professional Development Federal Activities. The increase will be used to further the goals of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and thus the goal of providing all students with talented, dedicated, and well-trained teachers. The Board administers a voluntary assessment and professional certification process for teachers based on national standards of excellence. The increase will speed the development of assessments in more than 25 teaching fields. Certification is currently available in only six fields, covering about 45 percent of the teaching force. We will also provide support to enable more teachers to take the assessments, in order to help reach the target of certifying over 100,000 teachers in less than a decade. Eisenhower Federal Activities funds will also be used to support the Mathematics and Science Education Clearinghouse and to provide seed money for professional development activities based on the findings of TIMSS.
Our request includes $50 million for After-School Learning Centers, a new initiative to be funded under the existing 21st Century Community Learning Centers authority. It will help rural and inner-city public schools stay open after school hours, on weekends, and during the summer, to serve as safe, neighborhood learning centers where students can do their homework and obtain tutoring and mentoring services. The request will support the development of hundreds of new after-school programs focusing on activities designed to improve student achievement and prevent juvenile violence and substance abuse.
We are requesting level funding of $40 million for the Fund for the Improvement of Education. These funds will be used to continue development of national tests in fourth grade reading and eighth grade mathematics, which we will begin developing with 1997 funds, as well as the development and dissemination of materials to help schools, teachers, parents, and students prepare for the tests. The President has called for these challenging national tests so that parents and teachers will know how well students are meeting rigorous standards and how well they compare with their peers around the country and the world. He announced in his State of the Union address that these tests will be available for voluntary use by States and districts in the spring of 1999. Our budget for 1999 will include funds to reimburse States and districts for the costs of administering the tests in the first year.
The request will also permit continuation of ongoing projects and continued support for two initiatives underway since 1995--one that provides grants to States to help defray the costs of developing State assessment programs tied to high standards and another that provides grants to State educational agencies in partnership with local school districts for designing and implementing character education programs. The funding will also permit continuation of programs that honor excellent teachers--Christa McAuliffe Fellows--and excellent schools--Blue Ribbon Schools.
Our request includes a modest $2 million, but 40 percent, increase for the Javits Gifted and Talented Education program. Increased investment in this program will help demonstrate effective strategies for including gifted and talented children in State and local efforts to raise standards for all students. In addition, the knowledge gained in developing and implementing programs for gifted and talented students can be used as a basis for rich and challenging curricula for all students.
Finally, our request includes level funding for the ten Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia, which provide technical assistance in the improvement of curricula, instruction, and assessment in mathematics and science; for the Civics Education program, which fosters good citizenship and civic responsibility for significant numbers of students while helping them develop an in-depth understanding of the U.S. Constitution; and for the International Education Exchange, which provides educators and leaders in other countries with curricula and training programs in civics and economics education, as well as the opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with teachers in the U.S. and other participating countries.
Mr. Chairman, to ensure that our investments are productive and efficient, we are in the process of developing detailed measures of performance and indicators of effectiveness for our programs. In OERI, we have focused particularly on our research and development, data collection, dissemination, and technology demonstration functions and believe that we have made progress in looking at how best to measure the difference that these programs are making. Finding appropriate ways to measure the effectiveness of our investments in reseach has been a particular challenge because the effects are only seen over a long period of time. Nonetheless, we can point to fairly well-developed performance plans for the National Research Institutes, the Regional Educational Laboratories, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my summary of our budget request for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have.
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