To:                   State Directors of Adult Education 

From:               Garrett Murphy 

Subject:            Authorization of a New “Institute of Educational Sciences to Replace the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) 

Date:                August 12, 2002

Title I of this legislation, which has been agreed to by both Houses of Congress establishes the new Institute within the Department of Education.  It is to be headed by a Director, appointed by the President – with the advice and consent of the Senate – who shall serve for a term of 6 years. But the first Director may be appointed by the President without the advice and consent of the Senate and may be the incumbent Assistant Secretary for OERI.   

The Act makes it clear that the authorizing language for the National Assessment of Educational Progress will continue as before this legislation. 

The legislation assigns the Director a long list of duties and priorities in which adult education is not mentioned, although an Adult Literacy Center is established later in the Act..  The Institute is to have a board of directors.   Along with advising on priorities, procedures, policies and activities, one of the Board’s responsibilities is to advise the Director to ensure that “activities conducted or supported by the Institute are objective, secular, neutral, and nonideological and are free of partisan political influence of racial, cultural, gender or regional bias.”

 In addition to ex officio members of the Board, (the Director, three Commissioners to be described below, the Director of the National Institute of child Health and Human Development, the Director of the Census, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics and the Director of the National Science Foundation) there are to be 15 appointed members of which no fewer than 8 must be researchers in the field of statistics, evaluation, social sciences, or physical or biological sciences.  Board members will be appointed initially to 2,3, and 4 year terms in order to establish a continuing body.  The Board will elect a chair.

 The legislation also establishes three Centers – on each for research, statistics, and evaluation/regional assistance.  Each Center will have a commissioner appointed by the Director with the advice of the Board. (One exception is the Commissioner for the Center on Education Statistics, who must be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.)  The Board may establish standing committees to serve each of the three Centers.  These Committees may have among their members highly qualified people who are not members of the Board.

 Activities carried out under the Act will be done through grants, contracts or cooperative arrangements, at a minimum, and shall be awarded on a competitive basis and, when practicable, through a process of peer review.

 The Center for Education Research is to carry out scientifically valid research that includes both basic and applied research.  The definitions section contains a definition of “scientifically based research standards” that includes an admonition to make ”claims of causal relationships only in random assignment experiments or other designs (to the extent such other designs substantially eliminate plausible competing explanations for the obtained results;)”

 One mechanism by which the Research Center is to carry out its obligations is through a group of  11 statutorily authorized National Research and Development Centers. The very first such Center listed is the one for Adult Literacy.  Such Centers are to address areas of national need, including technology.  Support for the Centers shall be for a period of 5 years and may, if supported by the Director, the Research Center Commissioner and the Board, be renewed without competition for another 5 years.  After 10 years there must be a competitive process to select the agency to operate the Center. (The existing adult education Center is the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) at Harvard University.  It is currently in its 7^th year.)  At least 50% of funds provided to a National Research and Development Center is to be applied to long-term research programs of not less than 5 years.

 The language establishing the Center for Education Statistics contains a number of references to adult education.  Statistics are to be collected from “preschool, elementary, secondary, postsecondary and adult levels in the United States….”  Included must be data on “secondary school dropouts, and adult literacy and reading skills.”   The Statistics Commissioner may accomplish  the mission of the Center via grants, contracts and cooperative agreements. The Commissioner may use information collected “from States, local education agencies, public and private schools, preschools, institutions of higher education, vocational and adult education programs, libraries, administrators , teachers, students, the general public and other individuals, organizations, agencies, and institutions (including information collected by States and local education agencies for their own use);….”  “The Statistics Center may establish 1 or more national cooperative education statistics systems for the purpose of producing ad maintaining, with the cooperationof the States, comparable and uniform information and data on early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, postsecondary education, adult education, and libraries….”

 The third Center established in the law is the Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.  Among its duties are to conduct evaluations of federal programs administered by the Secretary and (as time permits) other education programs, to provide technical assistance, to support wide dissemination of results of research and evaluation efforts, and to encourage the use of scientifically valid research and education.

 The Commissioner is charged with disseminating results on: reading, mathematics and, science; closing the achievement gap; educational practices that improve academic achievement; and “those topics covered by the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) clearinghouses (established under section 941(f) of the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination and Improvement Act of 1994 (10USC6041(f) (as such provision was in effect on the day before the enactment of this Act).”

 Under “Additional Duties”  the Commissioner must “continue awards for the support of the Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouses and contracts for regional education laboratories (established under subsections (f) and (h) of section 941 of the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 6041(f) and (h) (as such awards were in effect on the day before the enactment of the Act) for the duration of those awards, in accordance with the terms and agreements of such awards.”

 The Act also establishes a National Library of Education whose responsibility it is to collect and archive information and provide comprehensive reference services on matters relating to education to Department employees, grantees and contractors, other Federal employees and members of the public.  Information collected and archived by the Library shall include products and publications produced by the Institute and other relevant research, statistics, and evaluation materials that are consistent with scientifically valid research or the priorities and mission of the Institute and developed by the Department of Education or other Federal agencies including the ERIC clearinghouses.

 The Act provides for 10 Regional Educational Laboratories for Research, Development, Dissemination and Technical Assistance.  The regions served by these entities shall be the same 10 regions served by the existing laboratories.  There is no mention of adult education in the sections dealing with these laboratories.

 $400,000,000 is authorized for the Institute and $100,000,000 for the Regional Educational Laboratories  for fiscal year 2003 with “such sums as may be necessary” for each of the five succeeding fiscal years. Of amount provided to the Institute, the Center for Education Statistics may not receive less than it currently receives.

 Title II of the Act is entitled the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002..  the title authorizes awards of not less than 20 grants to local entities to provide technical assistance and professional development to low performing schools.  Each of the 10 regions that has a Regional Laboratory must have a Comprehensive Center.  A competition shall be held to select the awardees.  Eligible applicants are (1) research institutions, agencies, or organizations, (2)institutions of higher education,  (3)partnerships among such entities, and (4) individuals with demonstrated capacity to carry out the functions of the Center – including entities that carried our activities under the Educational Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994.  Each Center shall have an advisory board.

 The Act also provides for a Regional Advisory Committee for each of the 10 regions. These Committees are to provide “regional assessments”, i.e. each regional advisory committee must assess the educational needs within the region to be served. Input for such assessments must be solicited from a number of sources, among which are “other customers (such as adult education programs)….” This is the only other mention of adult education in the Act.

 There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2003 $80,000,000 and such sums as may be necessary for the 5 succeeding fiscal years.

 Title III of the Act is the National Assessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act. It authorizes $$4,600,000 for the Board and $107,500,000 for operations for fiscal year 2003 and such sums as may be necessary for the succeeding five fiscal years.

 Although this analysis is somewhat lengthy I have just scratched the surface of this very comprehensive piece of legislation.  Those interested in seeing the complete text may do so by opening www.thomas.loc.gov  Enter HR3801 in the appropriate box.  You will be offered 5 versions of the bill.  Click on version #1.  If you get a “this page cannot be displayed” message, search for Thomas on your browser and click on the entry that is entitled “Thomas Legislative Information.”  If that doesn’t work, open www.house.gov   Click on “The Legislative Process”.  Then click on “107^th Congress Bill Text” and enter HR3801 in the appropriate box.