Issues in Education Research

Sponsored by the National Academy of Education's Commission on theImprovement of Education Research It has been a decade since the National Academy of Education lastissued a review of education research. This new volume arrives at acritical time for our nation's schools. More than twenty prominentscholars provide an overview of the tensions, dilemmas, issues, andpossibilities that currently characterize education research. Theyexamine the state of education research, discuss how it is changingand where it needs to go, and reveal how the results ofresearch--whether good or bad--have become key drivers ofeducational policy and practice. This revelation raises importantquestions about standards for sound research and training forfuture researchers. Issues in Education Research is a valuablereference for the more than 40,000 college faculty members whostudy schooling and prepare tomorrow's teachers.

"This volume constitutes a milestone and a directional marker onthe path to improving the training of educational researchers aswell as enhancing the quality and the impact of educationalresearch. It is comprehensive, scholarly, and readable, and itpresents a challenge to schools of education and to the society asa whole to do whatever is necessary for us to upgrade the questionswe ask and the answers we provide." (Catherine Snow, Henry LeeShattuck Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School ofEducation) "This important project of the National Academy of Education willhelp researchers and policymakers understand the complexity ofconducting high-quality research in the context of real classroomsand schools." (Lorrie A. Shepard, president, American EducationalResearch Association, and professor, University of Colorado atBoulder) "Issues in Education Research's greatest contribution is to providethe reader with a set of well-written chapters that present in onevolume much of the lay of the land--or disputed territory--thatcharacterizes current-day education research.... This book preparesus for the tough task of going beyond particularistic views."(Richard J. Shavelson, dean, School of Education, StanfordUniversity)

ELLEN CONDLIFFE LAGEMANN is professor of history and education and director of the Center for the Study of American Culture and Education at New York University. She is also president of the National Academy of Education. LEE S. SHULMAN is president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and professor of education at Stanford University. He is a past president of the National Academy of Education.