2012 National Board for Education Sciences Annual Report
Briefing Material for Board Members

NCEE Evaluation Division (Associate Commissioner, Audrey Pendleton)

NCEE’s Evaluation Division is responsible for studies of federally funded programs, policies, and practices. A large share of its portfolio is large-scale, longitudinal evaluations of the impacts of interventions on critical educational outcomes, including students’ academic achievement, education attainment, career and college readiness, and social and emotional well-being. Some impact evaluations focus on policies, such as charter schools or mandatory drug testing, but more commonly the focus is on education strategies or programs, such as Reading First, after-school programs, teacher professional development, or teacher compensation. The Evaluation Division also conducts studies to inform the development of effective policies and practices. For example, it is conducting implementation evaluations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, Investing in Innovation (I-3), the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Race to the Top (RTT), and School Improvement Grants (SIG).

To date, NCEE has launched over 40 studies covering a wide range of topics and populations including early literacy, mathematics, teacher quality, school choice, English language learning, education technology, after-school programs, drug and violence prevention, adult education, and mentoring. More information on NCEE’s evaluation projects is available at https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/projects/evaluation/index.asp.