The Institute's training programs are intended to help ensure that researchers have the skills to produce research that is rigorous in method as well as relevant and accessible to education stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.
Methods Training for Education Research supports training of current education researchers to expand and upgrade their methodological skills. Education researchers include individuals located in colleges and universities as well as individuals working in state and local education agencies, education-focused organizations, and companies that have developed and deployed education related products and services. Supported training should respond to the ongoing development and adaptation of methods concerning the design of education studies, data collection, data analysis, and practical interpretation of the results of analyses.
IES is not specifying the methodologies to be addressed. However, IES encourages applications that will provide training intended to do one or more of the following:
- Support applied education researchers, and state and local education agency staff, and postsecondary institutional researchers to acquire skills necessary to obtain, evaluate, and generate the evidence needed for policy and programmatic decisions
- Ensure that education researchers keep up with advances in the field
- Provide the skills needed to support collaboration among product developers, researchers, and education practitioners
IES is interested in projects that provide researchers with targeted, relevant training they can immediately apply in their work rather than supporting broad methodological education of the type provided by certificate or degree programs. In addition to the summer workshop model, IES is open to the use of other formats, especially those that provide ongoing training over a longer period and can be directly applied to the real-world issues faced by participants.