Education

Spencer Foundation Seeks ‘Evidence For the Classroom’

By Jaclyn Zubrzycki — February 24, 2012 1 min read
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I wrote yesterday about how more researchers are looking into how data-driven reform is working, and about the expansion of the definition of data to include factors other than test scores. It seems that the Spencer Foundation, a private foundation in Chicago that focuses on education research, is interested in those same questions.

Yesterday, the foundation issued a request for proposals for research into data-based educational reforms. Here’s what they’re looking for:

“In an educational environment in which all kinds of decisions are expected to be ‘driven’ by data, we are eager to learn more about how K-8 teachers use student performance data for instructional decisions and how organizational factors affect that use.”

The RFP and more information about this and other funding opportunities are available here.

The materials specify that the foundation is taking a “broad view” about which data might be relevant and encourages a wide range of researchers to apply. Is there any teaching practice you would be particularly interested in learning about? Any facet of data use that seems under–researched?

A version of this news article first appeared in the Inside School Research blog.