Speaking to researchers attending a conference sponsored by the US Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that educational reforms should be be predicated on research about effectiveness.
“Education reform is not about sweeping mandates or grand gestures,” Duncan told the group of researchers who conduct research for IES, which is an independent section of the Education Department. “It’s about systematically examining and learning, building on what we’ve done right, and scrapping what hasn’t worked for kids.”
Secretary Duncan apparently focused on the development of integrated data bases that would allow people to record data about students’ progress and educational experiences as they progressed through schooling. This would indeed be a valuable asset. It’ll be a challenge to engineer, as obtaining trustworthy (i.e., relevant, objective, consistent) data will require substantial work. But it should be worthwhile.
Even though we can understand that his audience was more like the proverbial choir, some of us will still shout, “Thanks!”
Link to the ED press release.
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Secretary Duncan was interviewed briefly on NPR yesterday where he reiterated this same message about integrated data bases. But due to increased family mobility in these past 50 years or so, these databases need to be developed on a national level, and with the flexibility found in “workflow” software.
Is Duncan or anyone at a national level looking at national database needs? Maybe work will be begin after the initiative to look at national standards that is beginning.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth, thanks for this comment. I’d heard that Sec. Duncan was to be interviewed, but I missed it. I really appreciate the update.