Overview

• By providing an independent, scientific base of evidence and promoting and enabling its use, the Institute aims to further the transformation of education into an evidence-based field, and thereby enable the nation to educate all of its students effectively.
• In pursuit of its goals, the Institute will support research, conduct evaluations, and compile statistics in education that conform to rigorous scientific standards, and will disseminate and promote the use of research in ways that are objective, free of bias in their interpretation, and readily accessible

Goals

• To develop or identify a substantial number of programs, practices, policies, and approaches that enhance academic achievement and that can be widely deployed
• to identify what does not work and what is problematic or inefficient, and thereby encourage innovation and further research
• to gain fundamental understanding of the processes that underlie variations in the effectiveness of education programs, practices, policies, and approaches
• to develop delivery systems for the results of education research that will be routinely used by policymakers, educators, and the general public when making education decisions.

What and Who

The Institute's over-arching priority is research that contributes to improved academic achievement for all students, and particularly for those whose education prospects are hindered by inadequate education services and conditions associated with poverty, race/ethnicity, limited English proficiency, disability, and family circumstance.

• infancy and preschool
  readiness for schooling
  developmental outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities
• kindergarten through 12th grade
  reading and writing (including reading and writing in the disciplines), mathematics, and science
  behaviors and social skills that support learning in school and successful transitions
• postsecondary level
  enrollment in and completion of programs that prepare students for successful careers and lives
  acquisition of basic skills by adults
• disabilities
  same plus functional skills

Conditions–under control of system

• curriculum
• instruction
• assessment (including the identification of students with disabilities)
• quality of the education workforce
• systems and policies
  accountability systems
  delivery mechanisms (including technology)
  policies that support the ability of parents to improve educational results for their children
choice of education services
provision of school-related learning opportunities in the home

Capacity and Use

• post-doctoral training and interdisciplinary doctoral training in the education sciences
• development and refinement of education research methods
• expansion and use for research of longitudinal databases
• systematic reviews of evidence
• enhanced access to findings through advanced information systems
• outreach to parents, educators, students, policymakers, and the general public