U.S. Department of Education: Source of Research - Page 2

OSEP Research Institutes

• The Center on Accelerating Student Learning (CASL) is designed to accelerate learning for students with disabilities in the early grades. CASL is a five-year collaborative research effort supported by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Participating institutions are the University of Maryland, Teachers College of Columbia University, and Vanderbilt University.
  
• Over five years, the Research Institute to Accelerate Content Learning through High Support for Students with Disabilities in Grades 4-8 (REACH) is developing and studying instructional approaches that support all students as they engage in challenging content learning in language arts (EDC), mathematics (University of Puget Sound), science (University of Michigan), and social studies (University of Delaware). The project has a special focus on the discourse practices that students use in learning rigorous content.
  
• The Institute for Academic Success (AII) is conducting research to develop instructional methods and materials to provide students with authentic access to the HS curriculum. Researchers are exploring how the use of Content Enhancement Routines (verbal interactions that occur between students and teachers in general education classrooms), developed by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, increases student achievement.
• National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD)
  The mission of the NRCLD is to conduct research on the identification of learning disabilities, formulate implementation recommendations, disseminate findings, and provide technical assistance on national, state and local levels.
• Department of Education Resource Directory
  The Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD) is a listing of thousands of organizations that provide services on a state, regional, or national level. The Directory is intended to help you identify and contact organizations that provide information and assistance on a broad range of education-related topics.
  

Institute of Education Sciences

• U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences
  Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a national information system funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to provide access to education literature and resources. A restructuring of the ERIC database was begun in January 2004, but it will continue to serve as a centralized bibliographic database of journal articles and other published and unpublished education materials. Some new features will include: free full text, electronic links to commercial sources, and a user-friendly interface for ease of use.
  

• The What Works Clearinghouse
  The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was established in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to provide educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a central, independent, and trusted source of scientific evidence of 'what works' in education. The WWC is committed to producing high-quality reviews of scientific evidence of the effectiveness of replicable educational interventions (for example, programs, practices, products, or policies) that promise to improve student outcomes in areas such as reading, math, and behavior. Administered by the Department of Education through and contracted via a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research and the Campbell Collaboration, it also publishes standards for reviewing research, evidence reports, and a registry of evaluators.
• Scientifically Based Research
  In the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, there are 111 references to "scientifically based research!" To assist educators in finding and using strategies that have been validated through rigorous study, the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) recently released the user-friendly guide Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported by Rigorous Evidence. The 19-page publication offers ways to judge the effectiveness of an educational intervention (such as a reading or mathematics curriculum, school-wide reform programs, after-school programs and new educational technologies) that claim to be able to improve educational outcomes and be supported by evidence.

Sheldon H. Horowitz, Ed.D. is the Director of LD Resources & Essential Information at the National Center for Learning Disabilities.