This page last modified -- March 28, 2002 (jer)
Washington, DC 20208--7564
1505 C Health Science Center
University of Texas-Houston
7000 Fannin
Houston, TX 77030
Friday, February 1, 2002
Members Attending:
Kenji Hakuta, Chair
Adela Acosta
Patricia Ann Baltz (by teleconference)
Williamson M. Evers
Barbara R. Foorman
Paul Goren
Robert W. Marley
Alba A. Ortiz
Claire L. Pelton
Annemarie S. Palincsar (by teleconference)
Members Absent:
James E. Bottoms
Jomills H. Braddock
Douglas W. Carnine
Glenda T. Lappan
E. Lea Schelke
Ex Officio Members Present:
Douglas Herbert, delegate, National Endowment for the Arts
Bruce Fuchs, delegate, National Institutes of Health (by teleconference)
Board Staff Present:
Rafael Valdivieso
Thelma Leenhouts
OERI Staff Present:
Valerie Reyna
Anne Sweet
Designated Federal Official:
Mary Grace Lucier
The chair, Kenji Hakuta, called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.
Information Items
Barbara Foorman, Director, Center for Academic and Reading Skills, welcomed the Board to the Health Science Center, and introduced a panel consisting of her colleagues from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Dr. Jack Fletcher and Dr. Carolyn Denton, and Dr. David Francis, Director, Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at the University of Houston. Dr. Foorman also participated in the panel, which addressed "The Integration of Federally-funded Research on Early Reading with the Texas Reading Initiative." Members had the opportunity on January 31, 2002 to site visit schools in the Houston Independent School District (Travis Elementary, Longfellow Elementary, and Poe Elementary), which were participating in the reading studies and interventions under discussion.
Valerie Reyna delivered remarks on behalf of Assistant Secretary Grover Whitehurst relating to budget and reauthorization issues, and research initiatives with particular emphasis on evidence of effectiveness. Topics in the broader context of the work of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) included the Interagency Educational Research Initiative (IERI), a national language minority panel, character education, the RAND mathematics project, and comprehensive school reform. A session of Questions and Answers followed this presentation.
The chair reported on a workshop at the National Academy of Sciences on January 10-11, which was based on the Board-sponsored study, "Scientific Research in Education," and on other efforts to encourage media interest in this report.
The executive director outlined his efforts to generate interest in the document with the education press and research groups in Washington, DC, as well as a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in April.
Action Items
The Board approved the minutes of its last meeting, November 30, 2001.
The Board approved to increase the salary of the executive director from $116,000 to 121,600, to make this salary equivalent to Level V of the Executive Schedule.
Three standing committees of the Board met individually starting at 1:35 p.m., and reported the following findings to the Board:
The Committee on Priorities indicated its concern with the area of research on the assessment of student learning, and suggested a small conference with a number of research collaborative groups to elicit some principles that would guide state policymakers and others, including the higher education community. Conversations about this should be held with associations representing the chief state school officers and possibly governors before the next Board Meeting.
The Committee on Policy recommended that the Board monitor the OERI reauthorization in terms of such broad principles as rigor, culture of science, peer review, and usefulness or significance of the work. The chair suggested interacting with the practitioner community on the topic of science-based research at meetings of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). He noted that scientific work in the field of mathematics instruction is lagging and that the Board might consider how it might be advanced. The Committee proposed a letter to be sent to the education and appropriations committees of the Senate and the House, directing their attention to the findings of the National Research Council (NRC) report.
The Committee on Peer Review and Standards proposed a letter to the Assistant Secretary on the standards process and how it might be improved in the reauthorization legislation. The Committee would require a subsequent conference call to clarify what will be in the legislation. Chairman Hakuta requested that the committee further consider and discuss the issue of standing panels in peer review with the Assistant Secretary and with Dr. Reyna.
The meeting adjourned at 3 p.m.
This page last modified -- March 28, 2002 (jer)