Comparing IERI, ROLE, and CAREER Programs
The purpose of this communication is to discuss briefly the various funding
opportunities that the Division of Research, Evaluation and Communication (REC)
currently provides, and to help you understand the overlaps and differences
between the new education research programs in place at NSF.
The principal program areas that REC supports involve the Interagency
Education Research Initiative (IERI) Research on Learning and Education (ROLE),
and Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER). REC also will consider Small
Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) and unsolicited proposals; potential
applicants should refer to NSF's Grant Proposal Guide for further
information.
This summary of programs does not replace or supercede any information in
the guidelines for these programs. Rather, it is a means by which the REC
staff can informally compare for the field the program areas.
Education research funding at NSF has benefited from the efforts of many in
the field and within NSF to reconceptualize a more encompassing spectrum of
investigation. This reconceptualization is reflected in the agency budget for
FY 2000 and its request for 2001, both of which show increases for
REC-supported research over previous years.
Research funding programs intrinsically have a wider scope than other EHR
programs; their constituencies include researchers and practitioners in
teaching and learning, advanced technologies, policy, science and mathematics,
social sciences, and quantitative indicators. More importantly, in increasing
the scope of the program, the questions posed and the very different scales of
the studies needed require not only new collaborations but also the use or
development of different methodologies. We understand that researchers who want
either to deepen or expand the impact of their research will have to confront
different disciplinary and research cultures. Nevertheless, separating the
education “problem” into distinct subproblems by itself will not
address the major national need for purposeful and systemic integration of
research outcomes with classroom practice. The need for several methodologies
cannot be avoided if one keeps in mind the size of the education problem and
its nature. Researchers are encouraged to pay close attention to the research
methodology requirements for competitiveness in each program. Where
appropriate, you may consider the mechanism of a planning grant.
| Interagency Education Research Initiative (IERI) |
Research on Learning and Education (ROLE) |
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) |
Evaluative Research and Evaluation Capacity Building (EREC) |
- Research on scaling-up and sustaining interventions proven successful in
experimental settings.
- Covers only special focus areas each year
- Multidisciplinary among research approaches and between research and
practice.
- IERI will fund only work of a scale that can not otherwise be funded by
other agency programs (NICHD, OERI, NSF)
|
- Contributions to the knowledge base for both learning and education;
- "Four-quadrant" approach spans cognitive neuroscience through learning in
complex educational systems
- Builds research capacity in the field;
- Explores curricular, pedagogical and methodological advances; research on
the educational system itself.
- Research on problems of interest to EHR Divisions
|
- For non-tenured Assistant Professors in a tenure track position or equivalent
- For EHR, research is interpreted as education research
- Needs both research and education career paths
- Needs a long term view of the applicant’s career path
|
- Seeks to expand the understanding of effective
educational practices, policies, procedures, and outcomes that might be adopted
within the STEM education fields using evaluation as a research method.
- Seeks to advance the state-of-the-art of
evaluation by developing innovative tools, models, theories, and techniques for
evaluation.
- Eligible evaluative research topics include: the
instructional workforce, technology in the support of learning, and
partnerships for education.
- Projects may focus on multiple education
programs or projects with similar objectives, may bundle several programs or
projects together to examine major themes, may focus on various facets or
common elements among programs or projects, or may focus on the development of
capacity within the evaluation field.
- Proposals whose main purpose is to evaluate a
particular program or project are not eligible.The focus of proposals must be on generating knowledge and/or
capacity in the field, not in providing a service to individual organizations
that operate those programs or projects.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
