Whitehurst Fires Back

Grover "Russ" Whitehurst just released the Director's Biennial Report to Congress. The report contains a brilliantly constructed defense of IES policies over the last six years, including the increased emphasis on randomized field trials and the controversial What Works Clearinghouse. I expect spirited replies in forthcoming issues of Education Researcher.

AESA Conference Report

I traveled to Savannah, Georgia to attend the American Education Studies Association Annual Conference for the first time. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the first half of the conference, but I had a good time nonetheless.

I had thought that I would be entering a lions’ den, as my paper is partial defense of current policy at the Institute of Education Sciences under Russ Whitehurst. I argue that whatever one may object to about federal policy concerning scientifically based research, it is neither positivistic nor scientistic, given any responsible use of the terms. My small audience let me off the hook without much in the way of objections. I had hoped for a more spirited exchange.

I’m not sure what to make of AESA. I like the people. The topics are interesting. But the papers were mediocre. The empirical work lacked the sophistication of some of the better work at AERA and the philosophical work lacked the depth of the better papers at PES. Perhaps people use AESA as a warm up for the Spring? Or perhaps I missed the really good stuff…