Rigor and Relevance Redux: Director's Biennial Report to Congress. IES 2009-6010

The mission of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is to provide rigorous evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to encourage its use. The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA) requires that the Director of IES, on a biennial basis, transmit to the President, the National Board for Education Sciences, and the appropriate congressional committees, and make widely available to the public, a report containing: (1) a description of the activities carried out by and through the National Education Centers during the prior fiscal years; (2) a summary of each grant, contract, and cooperative agreement in excess of $100,000 funded through the National Education Centers during the prior fiscal years, including, at a minimum, the amount, duration, recipient, purpose of the award, and the relationship, if any, to the priorities and mission of IES; (3) a description of how the activities of the National Education Centers are consistent with the principles of scientifically valid research and the priorities and mission of IES; and (4) such additional comments, recommendations, and materials as the Director considers appropriate. The 2008 report discusses critical components of IES progress, recommendations for continued investments, and lessons learned. The report concludes that recent explosion of knowledge from education research is tied to a combined focus on rigor and relevance, and that moving education to a point at which the research base is sufficient to assure a good education for every student is the work of a generation, not of a few years. The director encourages continued forward movement. Four appendixes of Grant and Contract Awards are included: (1) National Center for Education Research; (2) National Center for Education Statistics; (3) National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance; and (4) National Center for Special Education Research. (Contains 42 footnotes and 2 figures.) [For the previous edition of this report, see ED497040.]