Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I am pleased to appear before you to discuss the programs and activities administered in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement that focus on the foundations of learning. Before coming to the Department of Education last year, I studied early cognitive development as a researcher for 31 years, so this is a topic in which I have a particular interest.

In the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress in Reading, 40 percent of white 4th graders read at a proficient level, compared with only 12 percent of African-American students. In some urban school districts that serve predominantly disadvantaged children, 70 percent of 4th graders cannot read at the basic level. Nothing has changed in the last decade in these statistics, and the overall gap between the highest and lowest performing students has actually increased in some subjects. This divergence begins long before students enter school. If we wait until 4th grade or even 1st grade to address this problem, we lose valuable opportunities to expand their access to opportunities and resources that stimulate learning and development.

If we are committed to the goal of the No Child Left Behind Act that scientifically based research should underlie reform of our most important Federal education programs, then we must address not only gaps in student achievement but also gaps in scientific knowledge. Consider some of the areas in which Congress instructed that funding decisions and practice should adhere to scientifically based research: reading, math, science, school-wide reform models, early literacy programs in preschools, professional development of teachers, to name but a few. We have a substantial and persuasive research base in only one of these topics, learning how to read.

About six weeks ago, I appeared before the House Subcommittee on Education Reform and discussed the upcoming reauthorization of the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act. The return on our investments in this area depends on the success of our attempts to revitalize and reform the Department's research through reauthorization. At that hearing, I said that my marching orders when I was appointed were to fund research that is scientifically strong, that is relevant to pressing problems in education, and that will be utilized by educators and decision makers.

The President's commitment to raising the quality and relevance of education research is reflected in the $175 million requested for Research and Dissemination and $95 million for Statistics. The request includes a 44 percent increase for research over the funds available in fiscal year 2002 and an 11 percent increase for statistics. Today I will describe our major research accomplishments and upcoming initiatives in the areas of early childhood education and the fundamental components of learning.

Preparing Children to Learn

Research has long established the importance of early experiences in supporting successful child development. More recently, the focus has turned to the role of early child-care and preschool experiences in supporting cognitive development and other skills that are essential for successful transition into school. The President's request includes $22 million for Ready-to-Learn Television to support the development and distribution of quality educational programming that assists parents in preparing their children to enter school. The Ready-to-Learn program supported the development of two respected new children's shows, Dragon Tales and Between the Lions. Other television programs receiving funds under the program include Arthur, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Reading Rainbow, and Sesame Street. Ready-to-Learn funds also support collaborative partnerships between local public television stations and early childhood and family educational and service organizations in their communities. Through workshops and the distribution of free children's books and magazines, these partnerships help parents use children's television programming as a tool for teaching and learning.

Funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) also supports the work of the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) at the University of North Carolina. NCEDL focuses on enhancing the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth through age eight. The Center is conducting a multi-state random assignment study of U.S. pre-kindergarten programs that are funded totally or partially with public education dollars and are operated in public schools or under the direction of State or local educational agencies. This study will be completed in 2004.

The request for Statistics includes funding for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a major nationally representative data collection that provides information on early childhood development and educational experiences. This study, which is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics in collaboration with other Federal agencies and organizations, provides detailed information on children's health, early child care, and early school experiences. Data from the study will inform child development practices and policies regarding childcare and early learning programs.

What Works in Preschool?

Last summer, the First Lady convened a White House summit on early childhood cognitive development entitled Ready to Read, Ready to Learn to highlight the early learning activities that parents and educators can use to prepare young children for school. As a follow-up to the summit, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson created an interagency task force to translate research on learning readiness into action through programs for preschoolers.

The evidence that would allow informed choices of classroom curricula for early childhood programs is weak. When rigorous preschool program evaluations exist, they are for programs designed and delivered decades ago. Parents and educators of young children lack rigorous, systematic evaluation data to make informed choices among preschool curricula currently in use for children in the preschool years. For example, the State of Georgia, which has a universal pre-K program, allows providers to choose among seven different nationally available curricula. There is little evidence that would allow an informed choice among these curricula. New York, another State providing universal pre-K, does not provide a list of approved curricula. Instead, it requires that approved providers deliver a curriculum that conforms to general guidelines such as meeting "the social, cognitive, linguistic, emotional, cultural and physical needs of all eligible children." Current research provides little guidance for preschool administrators selecting a curriculum based on these guidelines.

In a few weeks, we will award the first grants under the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research initiative to support randomized trials of preschool curricula that examine their effect on language development, pre-reading and pre-math abilities, cognition, general knowledge, and social competence. Prior research indicates that these skills predict academic success in the early years of elementary school and are most amenable to influence by factors within the realm of classroom curricula and practice. The Department does not intend to support the development of new curricula; that will be the focus of other programs of research to be sponsored by the interagency task force.

Curricula selected for inclusion in the study must be employed in a number of sites already, must address the child outcomes mentioned above, and must have a basis in scientific literature on learning and instruction. The curricula must be accompanied by sufficient standardized training procedures and published materials to ensure that preschool educators achieve the same results in a classroom setting as the curriculum developers. In 2003, OERI will expand the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research program and award $15 million in grants to support evaluations of additional curricula.

Reading to Learn

As I mentioned earlier, reading is one of the few areas in education in which there is a substantial research base. Through 35 years of research, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development achieved significant breakthroughs in our understanding of how children learn to decode or sound out words. This research provides the foundation for the Reading First and Early Reading First initiatives. However, we know far less about the conditions that enable children who have broken the reading code to be able to comprehend what they read.

Reading comprehension is necessary for academic achievement in virtually all school subjects and for economic self-sufficiency in cognitively demanding job environments. OERI commissioned the RAND Corporation to formulate a multi-year research agenda that would advance the science of reading comprehension. Based on the findings of the National Reading Panel (2000) and the RAND Reading Study Group Report (2001), we proposed priorities for a grant competition on reading comprehension research. The initiative will expand scientific knowledge in several important areas: how students develop proficient levels of reading comprehension; how reading comprehension can be taught; and which assessments of reading comprehension reflect empirically justified dimensions, distinguish reader differences, and are sensitive to instructional goals.

To ensure that practitioners and policymakers can apply the findings across student backgrounds and educational settings, applicants for funding are required to employ the most sophisticated level of design and analysis that is appropriate for the research question. For research questions that cannot be addressed using an experimental design, applicants must explain why another method would be preferable. Initial grants under this research program will be awarded in 2002. In 2003, we will expand this initiative and award $20 million in grants to support research that provides a scientific foundation for reading comprehension instruction that improves student proficiency across a range of texts and subjects.

English Language Acquisition

Demographic shifts and changes in immigration are resulting in increasing numbers of children in America's schools whose first language is not English. Many of these children come from low-income homes, and often their parents have little formal education. In its comprehensive report Improving Schooling for Language-Minority Children, the National Research Council recommended research priorities to address barriers to English language acquisition.

A major interagency research initiative is underway that responds to these priorities. In 2001, the Department of Education and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development jointly funded research designed to identify critical factors that influence the development of English-language reading and writing competencies among children whose first language is Spanish. The 2003 competition will broaden this initiative by soliciting proposals addressing the instructional needs of other populations of second language learners.

Applying the Lessons of Research in the Classroom

In 1999, the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development launched the Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI) to accelerate the translation of research findings into concrete lessons and tools for raising student achievement from pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade. IERI supports rigorous, interdisciplinary research on large-scale implementations of promising educational practices and technologies. The 2003 grant competition will solicit projects in two areas: early learning of foundational skills and the transition to complex science and mathematics learning.

Cognitive science is another area in which educational practice has not kept pace with scientific advances. In the last 15 years, the combination of brain science and behavioral studies of learning and memory have produced breakthroughs in our understanding of how people learn. However, nearly all research on cognition is conducted in laboratory settings that are far removed from the classroom. In 2003, the Department will award $5 million under the Cognition and Student Learning Research Grant Program for research on the key processes of attention, memory, and reasoning that are essential for learning and that are likely to produce substantial gains in academic achievement. Examples include building a bridge between laboratory-based models of attention and attentional failures by children during classroom instruction; developing methods to help children enhance retrieval of memories of text; and developing age appropriate instructional methods to increase the reasoning skills of children.

Other Research on the Foundations of Learning

In addition to the programs I have already mentioned, OERI supports research on the foundations of learning through our diverse portfolio of directed research, eight national education research centers, field-initiated studies, and cooperative agreements. The 2003 budget request reflects our commitment to continue to support research through each of these funding mechanisms without the constraints of the funding requirements in current law. The reauthorization proposal recently introduced as H.R. 3801 provides the flexibility to fund programs of sustained research based on core problems for which research has the potential to generate breakthroughs in teaching, learning, and management.

Transforming Educational Practice

Since research cannot transform educational practice in isolation, the request includes funding to translate research findings into user-friendly formats and disseminate this information to parents, teachers, and policymakers by creating a trusted source to which policymakers, educators, and parents can turn for information on what works in education. Virtually all education products, curricula, and approaches are advertised as based on research, but few are. The What Works Clearinghouse will specify clear and rigorous methodological standards for demonstrations of program effectiveness, and then provide a roster of programs and products, within subject areas, that have met those standards. When sufficient high quality research has accumulated on a particular topic, the clearinghouse will commission synthesis papers that summarize the existing literature and provide guidance on what to expect from the approaches and products that have been subject to research. Over time, the clearinghouse will become the principal source of valid information on effective educational practice.

Conclusion

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss support for research on the foundations of learning in the President's 2003 budget. My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have.

This page last modified—August 2, 2006.