edited by Richard J. Shavelson and Lisa Towne, National Research Council Committee on Scientific Principles for Education Research, National Academy of Science
2002
The National Academy of Science's Committee on Scientific Principles for Education Research, chaired by Stanford education professor Richard Shavelson (and including the newly named dean of the Harvard school of education, Ellen Lagemann), has published this 200-page volume, paid for (naturally) by the U.S. Department of Education. It's surely timely, thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act's emphasis on the use of (only) scientifically based education strategies and programs and the pending reauthorization of the Education Department's own research unit as a new (and presumably more scientific) National Academy of Education Science. It's not bad as statements of principles go but it reveals its roots in a committee dominated by education researchers. It's defensive and unjustifiably prideful regarding the track record of education research to date, and it's Dewey-esque in its basic philosophy of what should constitute research in the future. Which is to say, it's as fond of what educationists like to call "qualitative" research as of what real scientists view as scientific research. While there's no rejection of the latter, the committee's basic view seems to be "you do real experimental work when it's convenient; when it's not, you do what you've always done: crouch in the classroom, interview the teachers, whatever." Its advice for the federal government is mostly sound, too, but familiar, even banal. (Hire more real researchers, shield them from politics, give them more money, etc.) My biggest lament is the reverence cum naivet?? that this crowd shows toward "peer review." It sounds swell, of course, and sometimes can be a true source of quality control, but let's not kid ourselves: the selection of peers shapes the outcome of many reviews, and the decision to limit "peers" to other researchers with the same values and methodological preferences instantly walls off the subject or project from those who might think otherwise about what's important or how to study it. That approach to research keeps the entire venture firmly within the usual family of researchers which, of course, is where the committee that issued this report wants to keep it. Welcome to the American Education Research Association! If you'd like to buy a copy, the ISBN is 0309082919 and you can get ordering information at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10236.html.
