NAEd Education Policy White Papers Initiative

The National Academy of Education has undertaken an initiative to connect policymakers in a new administration and Congress with the best available evidence on selected education policy issues. The project is designed to help policymakers better understand key education issues and to strengthen their ability to formulate effective policies by providing them with independent, research-based information.

Many of the nation’s top education researchers are serving on the project working groups, which have developed white papers that address six key areas in education policy:

On November 18, 2008, the findings from these white papers were presented at the Education Policy in Transition public forum hosted at the National Academy of Sciences.

Each of the white papers reviews the available research evidence and presents possible policy options or recommendations. The white papers are being subjected to a rigorous peer review process before being released, both to ensure the highest quality and to vet the evidentiary basis for the conclusions and recommendations.

The project is guided by a Steering Committee chaired by Lauren Resnick; members of the Steering Committee include:

Roy Romer (former Governor of Colorado) and Marc Lampkin from Strong American Schools serve as sponsor liaisons to the Steering Committee.

Members of the working groups were selected based on their expertise in the topic areas, with an eye toward assuring that the members represent a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds in order to achieve appropriate balance. The working groups include the following individuals:

Equity and Excellence in American Education:
Robert Hauser (Chair), Alfredo Artiles, Kathryn Au, Kenji Hakuta, Paul Hill, Michael Kirst, Goodwin Liu, Uri Treisman

Math and Science Education:
Jeremy Kilpatrick and Helen Quinn (Co-Chairs), Hyman Bass, Paul Cobb, Philip Daro, Louis Gomez, Joseph Krajcik, James Pellegrino, Judith Ramaley, Richard Shavelson, Robert Tinker, Hung Hsi Wu

Reading and Literacy Education:
Richard Anderson (Chair), Arthur Applebee, Maria Carlo, Lily-Wong Fillmore, Andy Hartman, Carol Lee, Annemarie Palincsar, Catherine Snow, Dorothy Strickland, Richard Wagner

Standards and Assessments:
Eva Baker and Jane Hannaway (Co-Chairs), Patricia Gandara, Drew Gitomer, Peg Goertz, Helen (Sunny) Ladd, Robert Linn, David Pearson, Diane Ravitch, William Schmidt, Alan Schoenfeld, William Trent, David Stern, Mark Wilson

Teacher Quality:
Suzanne Wilson (Chair), Deborah Ball, Anthony Bryk, David Figlio, Pamela Grossman, Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Susanna Loeb, Andrew Porter, Judith Warren Little

Time for Learning:
Brian Rowan (Chair), David Berliner, Harris Cooper, Jacquelynne Eccles, Henry Levin