National Center for Education Research (NCER) and
National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER)
National Center for Education Research (NCER) and
National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER)
Thomas Brock joined the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in 2013 as the Commissioner for the National Center for Education Research (NCER). Prior to joining IES, he served as Director of the Young Adults and Postsecondary Education Division at MDRC, leading MDRC’s higher education projects, which focused primarily on finding ways to increase academic achievement, persistence, and degree completion among low-income college students. Also, as part of the IES-funded National Center for Postsecondary Research, Brock oversaw evaluations of learning communities and summer enrichment programs for students in need of developmental education. He also served in various other capacities at MDRC—including research associate, management associate, special assistant for operations and development, and senior research associate—and in so doing led and directed implementation research on welfare reform and anti-poverty programs. Before joining MDRC, Brock served as an evaluation officer at the Wallace Foundation, where he managed a portfolio of research and evaluation grants in education, youth services, and the arts, in addition to developing survey instruments and research protocols. He holds a B.A.in Anthropology from Pitzer College, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbia University, and a Ph.D.in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the 2016 Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Principal Investigators Meeting! This year's theme, Making it Matter: Rigorous Research from Design to Dissemination, underscores IES’ commitment to funding high quality research projects that will lead to meaningful improvements in schools and student outcomes. Our Co-Chairs for the 2016 Principal Investigators (PI) Meeting – Roberta Golinkoff (University of Delaware), Kathleen Lane (University of Kansas), and Grace Wardhana (Kiko Labs) – have channeled their passion for research and dissemination to help select the theme, plan sessions, and identify speakers for this meeting. We are grateful for their contribution.
The overall purpose of this gathering is to strengthen our collective work by fostering discussion and renewing or building connections among the nearly 800 PIs and training fellows currently supported by IES. The specific objectives of this meeting are to:
We solicited feedback on last year’s meeting to help us shape this year's agenda. Based on comments we received, we are allowing more time for informal meetings and networking, and have placed even greater emphasis on methodological training. In the interest of supporting dissemination efforts, we are also offering workshops and panels focusing on different forms of dissemination to a variety of audiences. Based on positive responses to last year’s meeting format, we will also continue to hold panel sessions focused on research findings, roundtables on critical education topics, IES technical assistance sessions, poster sessions, and time for program officer and networking meetings.
Thank you for your participation. We are looking forward to a great meeting.
Thomas Brock, NCER Commissioner & Joan McLaughlin, NCSER Commissioner
Joan McLaughlin became Commissioner of NCSER in 2013. From 2009 until 2013, Joan served as Deputy Commissioner, as well NCSER’s Program Officer for the Early Intervention and Early Learning in Special Education grant program. Prior to joining IES, Joan spent 16 years working in the Education and Family Services area of Abt Associates Inc., a research consulting firm. While there, she served as principal investigator or project director for numerous evaluations of federal education, food assistance, and early childhood programs. Joan has also served as a Program Officer in the Office of Analysis and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, where she oversaw design, process, and implementation studies of programs and initiatives focused on maternal and child health and child nutrition issues. She also served as a Program Analyst in the Program Evaluation and Methodology Division of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Joan received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and her master’s and Ph.D.in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University.