Friday Guest Column: Is Education Research on the Leading Edge of School Improvement?
Jim Kohlmoos is President and CEO of Knowledge Alliance

Back in March of 2002 Knowledge Alliance (then known as NEKIA) co-convened a day long policy forum - “Research in Education: On the Leading Edge of School Improvement?” - in Washington DC to explore stronger connections between education research and school improvement efforts nationwide. At the time some folks believed that this topic would not generate more than a passing interest among a few policy wonks. But it was indeed a hot issue.
Just a few months after the passage of No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) there were all sorts of questions surrounding the term “scientifically based research” which had been planted in the statute in over 100 places. And there was a big interest in how the federally supported R&D infrastructure in education could be restructured through the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA - which was up for reauthorization at the time). The forum was "standing room only" (SRO) and the conversations were hot and heavy about quality and relevance and utilization. We produced a summary document of the gathering and eventually an Education Week commentary calling for a “new education knowledge infrastructure”. (Find here.) In the burgeoning era of education reform under NCLB and ESRA, education research seemed to be on the verge of forging a new central function in school improvement.
