Special Education Research in a Flat World: Ode to Thomas Friedman and Flat Stanley

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Special Education Research in a Flat World Ode
to Thomas Friedman and Flat Stanley
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IDEA Reauthorization in 2004

• Amended the The Education Sciences Reform Act of
  2002 to establish the National Center for Special
  Education Research in the Institute of Education
  Sciences (IES)
• Transferred responsibility for special education
  research and Studies and Evaluations (except
  for the Annual Report) from the Office of Special
  Education Programs to NCSER.

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The Charge Legislative Branch

• Research, statistical, and evaluation
  activities supported by the Institute shall
  apply rigorous, systematic, and objective
  methodology to obtain reliable and valid
  knowledge and present findings and make claims
  that are appropriate to and supported by the
  methods that have been employed. (ESRA, 2002)

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Organizational Structure
Office of the Director Grover J. Whitehurst,
Director
National Board for Education Sciences Robert C.
Granger, Chair Sonia Chessen, Executive Director
National Center for Education Evaluation and
Regional Assistance Phoebe Cottingham, Commissione
r
National Center for Education Research Lynn
Okagaki, Commissioner
National Center for Education Statistics Mark
Schneider, Commissioner
National Center for Special Education
Research Edward J. Kameenui, Commissioner
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Organizational Structure
Office of the Director Grover J. Whitehurst,
Director
National Board for Education Sciences Robert C.
Granger, Chair Sonia Chessen, Executive Director
Office of Science Anne Ricciuti Acting Deputy
Director for Science
Office of Administration and Policy Sue
Betka, Deputy Director for Administration and
Policy
Office of Communication and Outreach Mike
Bowler, Director of Communications and Outreach
Office of Information Technology Gerald
Malitz, Chief Information Technology Officer
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IES Goals

• develop or identify programs, practices,
  policies, and approaches that enhance academic
  achievement and that can be widely deployed
• identify what does not work and what is
  problematic, and thereby encourage innovation and
  further research
• gain fundamental understanding of the processes
  that underlie variations in the effectiveness of
  education programs
• develop delivery systems for the results of
  education research that will be routinely used by
  practitioners and the public when making
  education decisions

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Presidents FY 2006 Education Final
Appropriations (in millions of dollars)

• Research in special education and studies and
  evaluation 82 million (0.11 of total ED
  monies)
• Title I Grants to LEAs 12,713 million (largest
  portion of NCLB programs)
• Reading First/Early Reading First 1,132
  million
• Total Education Appropriation 71,545 million
• Reference http//www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget
  /budget06/06action.pdf

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NCSERs Five Original Organizing Principles

• The science must come first.
• We must invest wisely and strategically.
• Research in special education and early
  intervention is at the heart of NCSER.
• Building research capacity is not a Lone Ranger
  endeavor.
• Good science is not enough results must lead to
  high quality performance and delivery systems.

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Features of NCSER Research Matrix

• NCSER Statutory responsibilities 18
• Disability Statutory categories 13
• Total Research Matrix cells 18 x 13 234

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NCSER Research Matrix (Disability x Statutory
Duties)
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IES Research Goal Structure

• Goals differ by topic area, and include
• Goal 1 Identify interventions that may have an
  impact on student outcomes.
• Goal 2 Develop interventions and provide pilot
  data on the relationship between the
  implementation of the intervention and intended
  outcomes.
• Goal 3 Conduct efficacy and replication trials.
• Goal 4 Conduct large scale evaluations.
• Goal 5 Develop or validate measurement tools.

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NCSER Current Portfolio of Investments

• 39 Research Projects
• 7 Contracts
• 4 Interagency agreements (NICHD)
• 16 of 39 research projects are research
  development (Goal 2) 12 research efficacy (Goal
  3)
• 11 research projects focus on SBD
• Research sample across projects N 10,35211,075

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Investments 2006 Grant Competition Results
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SBD Serious Behavior Disorders EI A Early
Intervention and Assessment R / W Reading
Writing L / V Language and
Vocabulary TQ M / S Teacher Quality Math
Science M / S Math Science
A A Assessment for Accountability IEP
Individualized Education Programs TQ
R / W Teacher Quality Reading Writing S /
PS Secondary and Postsecondary Outcomes
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2006 Investments Applications x Topic x Goal
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2006 Investments Applications x Topic x Goal
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Matrix of Disability Category by Duties (Current
Investments Shaded)
3
1
5
2
9
1
7
2
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Matrix with Total of Students with Disabilities
Across All NCSER Studies
N 590
N 70
N 1288
N 322
N 2424
N 240
N 5078
N 340
(N 10,352)
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Current NCSER Investments

• Character of Investment Portfolio
• Traditional areas topics
• Field initiated Walk-on model
• Horizontal
• Incremental incidental
• IES goal driven

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Special Education Research in a Flat World

• Friedman, T. L. (2006). The World Is Flat A
  Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
  (Updated Expanded). New York Farrar, Stauss
  Giroux.
• Globalization 3.0
• A global, leveling of the playing field
• A Web-enabled, flat world platform
• without regard to geography, distance, time, and
  language
• makes multiple forms of collaboration
  (individuals, groups, companies, universities
  anywhere in the world) possible for the purposes
  of innovation, production, education, research,
  entertainment, and war-making

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Special Education Research in a Flat World

• Steriods
• Digital Mobile, Personal, Virtual
• Instant messaging file sharing
• VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol Service
• Video-conferencing
• Advances in computer graphics
• New wireless technologies devices and
• DROE (the Digitized Representation Of Everything)

• Flat World Platform
• 11/9/89 (Fall of Berlin Wall)
• 8/9/95 (Netscape IPO)
• Work Flow Software
• Uploading
• Outsourcing
• Offshoring
• Supply-Chaining
• Insourcing
• In-forming

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Special Education Research in a Flat World

• The Flat World Platform Requires
• An infrastructure to connect with the flat-world
  platform
• The education to get more people innovating on,
  working off of, and tapping into this platform
• The governance to get the best of the platform
  and to cushion its worst side effects.

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Special Education Research in a Flat World

• Iron Law of the Flat World Whatever can be
  done, will be done--either by you or to you!
• Touching Tomorrow Today (Purdue University, circa
  1983) Cheaper, lighter, smaller, and more
  personal, mobile, digital, and visual to
  communicate, compete, and collaborate farther and
  faster.
• The Coefficient of Flatness The fewer natural
  resources your country or company has, the more
  you will dig inside yourself for innovations in
  order to survive.

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Special Education Research in a Flat World

• The Flat World Platform assigns supreme value
  to those who have the right knowledge, skills,
  ideas, and self-motivation (Friedman, 2006, p.
  276).
• Untouchables jobs designed for the new
  middle.
• Great collaborators, orchestrators, leverages,
  synthesizers, explainers, adaptors, localizers,
  and passionate personalizers (Friedman, 2006, p.
  276).

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Special Education Research in a Flat World

• Orthogonal to a flat world
• Horrendous conceit
• Bulky in ideation
• Slow and labor intensive in force
• Opaque in process
• Estranged in impact
• Damn expensive!

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Faster, Farther Deeper in a Flat World

• Horizontal Access Breadth (General Knowledge)
• Vertical Access Deeper, faster, farther,
  swifter
• Diagonal Access Flat-world Competitiveness
• Inside-Out Access Limits of Individual Access
• Outside-In Access Competitive Resourcefulness
• Bridging Mechanisms Processes Negotiating
• Symbolic SystemsProcedural and Content Domains

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NCSERs Organizing Principles for a Flat World

1. The science must come first, but it must yield
   useful and useable results and products.
2. We must invest horizontally and vertically.
3. The research investments should be
   transforming.
4. Continuous collaboration R TA NCSER OSEP
   Responsible Relevant
5. High quality performance and delivery systems for
   each and all.

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Evidence-based Education

• Using the best available empirical evidence in
  making decisions about education

-- Particularly for students with disabilities
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IES NCSER Practice (TA D)

• Simple Formula
• 1. R - TA D Irrelevant
• 2. TA D - R Irresponsible
• 3. R TA D Relevant Responsible
• What Does This Mean?
• Levels of evidence process mechanisms

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Levels of Evidence on What Works

1. Meta-analyses of high quality evidence
2. Experiments and well designed quasi-experiments
   using WWC standards (including small n designs)
3. Statistical modeling of correlational and
   longitudinal data
4. Best practice studies with matching and
   contrastive analysis
5. Expert opinion supported by conceptual models and
   generalizations from high quality research on
   related topics

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Investments 2007 RFA Research Topics

• NCSER Topics with a July 27, 2006 Transmittal
  Deadline
• a. Early Intervention, Early Childhood Special
  Education, and Assessment for Young Children with
  Disabilities Special Education Research Grants
  Program
• b. Mathematics and Science Special Education
  Research Grants Program
• c. Reading, and Writing, and Language Special
  Education Research Grants Program
• d. Serious Behavior Disorders Special Education
  Research Grants Program
• e. Special Education Research Grants Program on
  Assessment for Accountability

• NCSER Topics with a November 16, 2006
  Transmittal Deadline
• f. Response to Intervention - Special Education
  Research Grants Program
• g. Autism Spectrum Disorders- Special Education
  Research Grants Program
• h. Research Grants Program on the Quality of
  Teacher and Other Service Providers for Students
  with Disabilities
• i. Secondary and Transition Services Special
  Education Research Grants Program
• j. Special Education Research Grants Program on
  Individualized Education Programs and
  Individualized Family Service Plans

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Investments NCSER Initiatives for 2006-2007

• To address key methodological and statistical
  issues which represent important, persistent, and
  unique technical problems in conducting special
  education research and may require immediate,
  serious and sustained attention and capacity
  building. 
• To promote, establish, and sustain an
  evidence-based special education technical
  assistance and dissemination system through the
  IES NCSER and OSERS/OSEP research collaboration.
•  
• 3. To conduct a systematic inventory of
  special education research in order to ascertain
  the quality, depth, and breadth of the research
  investments over the last 30 years since the
  authorization of PL 94-142 (The Education of All
  Handicapped Childrens Act).

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Investments NCSER Initiatives for 2006-2007,
contd

• 4. To initiate a program of support designed
  to increase the capacity of pre-doctoral,
  post-doctoral and early career investigators to
  conduct rigorous research in special education.
•  
• 5. To develop and establish a registry of
  NCSER/IES intervention studies (Goal 3-4) that
  will represent a codified record of research
  trials and contribute to a comprehensive,
  publicly available database of special education
  research trials (i.e., Any research project that
  prospectively assigns human subjects to
  intervention and comparison groups to study the
  cause-and-effect relationship between a
  curricular, instructional, cognitive, social, or
  behavioral intervention and an educational
  outcome. ICMJE, 10/16/05).

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Next Steps -- Investments

• Examine portfolio of investments
• Identify important gaps areas of impact
• Gain input from field stakeholders
• Build for short-term and long-term capacity
• Consider threshold capacity for investments
• Strive for distinction and transformation
• Identify IES mechanisms for advancing portfolio

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Harsh Realities

• We have more cells than research dollars. Most
  cells are either empty or partially filled. None
  of the cells are completely filled. Where should
  NCSER make investments for the short and long
  term? What organizing principles and values
  should guide these decisions?
• Space and time is at least three-dimensional
  Investments must reflect a long-term horizontal
  view (breadth) with vertical short-term
  investments (depth) that vary over time,
  complimented with diagonal investments when
  possible/feasible (depending on quality of
  research from field).
•  

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Harsh Realities (Contd)

• What is the capacity of the field to deliver the
  research goods? The quality of the research
  infrastructure and capacity is essential to good
  science and research.
• Needed Short and long-term investments in
  building professional capacity that is
  interdisciplinary, rigorous, and content
  intensive in special education as a primary
  discipline.

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Harsh Realities (contd)

• What is the capacity of the U.S. Department of
  Education and the Institute of Education Sciences
  (IES) to deliver the goods?
•  
• What are the mechanisms for obtaining input from
  the fieldindividuals and parents/ caregivers of
  children and individuals with disabilities,
  professional organizations, stakeholders and the
  general publicon the research investments?