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I. Introduction

In 1996 the National Research Council (NRC) began assessing the feasibility of a long-term research program focused on the topics that would be most critical to improving learning in the nation's schools. When the panel's findings were published in 1999, the NRC concluded that, "the complex world of education-unlike defense, health care, or industrial production-does not rest on a strong research base. In no other field are personal experience and ideology so frequently relied on to make policy choices, and in no other field is the research base so inadequate and little used" (Improving Student Learning: A Strategic Plan for Education Research and Its Utilization, 1999).

Those were tough words, but three years later, as the nation turned its attention to reforming federal education policy, the legislative branch and the executive branch agreed that the research base described in the NRC report was still woefully inadequate and needed more rigor and relevance. Congress, to its credit, responded by passing the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), establishing the Institute of Education Sciences (the Institute) and its advisory board, the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES). Through the work of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, as well the House and Senate Appropriation Committees, Congress created a new entity within the Education Department that would make significant strides in the quality and quantity of the research it sponsored. Free of partisan political influence, the Institute would report to Congress yearly on the condition of education in the United States. It would provide thorough and objective evaluations of federal programs such as Title I and Reading First. It would sponsor research that would be relevant and useful to educators and others. And it would become the place to go-the gold standard-for reliable, unbiased information on what works in education-and what does not.

Members of the National Board for Education Sciences were nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Board was confirmed by the Senate at the close of the 108th Congress, and held its first meeting in February 2005. To date, the Board has met 5 times. NBES is composed of 14 researchers and practitioners who feel privileged to be a part of this groundbreaking attempt to improve the quality of education research. The ESRA mandates that the Board shall submit an annual report "that assesses the effectiveness of the Institute in carrying out its priorities and mission, especially as they relate to carrying out scientifically valid research, conducting unbiased evaluations, and collecting and reporting accurate education statistics." The Board is pleased to submit the attached report in the hopes that it will convey the extent of the progress the Institute has made as it transforms education into an evidence-based field in which decision-makers turn to rigorous data to inform policies and practices.

From its inception, the Institute made it a first priority to develop policies and procedures that foster the highest scientific standards for the research it supports. The Board has played a role in institutionalizing the commitment to these standards by fulfilling its responsibility to formally approve the Director's priorities and the procedures for peer review. To be thoughtful in its deliberations over the priorities and procedures, the Board conducted its own review of the Institute's work. As result, the Board is positioned to report on how the priorities were developed and to assess the plans to implement them. The Board also will provide information about how the peer review process was developed and how it is operating.