The Digest Issue 2

Researchers who want their work to matter in policy and practice should pursue the questions of greatest relevance with the highest standards of theoretical and methodological rigor.

We recognize that no single effort will be transformative, but we hope that our collective efforts as researchers, research funders, universities, and professional associations can support research that, over the long term, improves the lives of young people.

How can research to improve the lives of youth in the United States also benefit the other 95 percent of the world’s youth? Questions like this highlight the urgency of bringing the highest levels of rigor to relevant research.

By moving accountability systems from the federal to the state level and highlighting the importance of English learner progress in accountability, ESSA provides an opportunity to develop state accountability systems that better support the learning of ELs. Assessments and data are critical pieces of these systems—future research focusing on these areas promise to yield a more nuanced picture of how ELs are doing and why, as well as what can be done to spur and sustain their academic progress.

Strengthening practice and policy in state and local education systems will be an essential part of reducing inequality for young people in the coming years. And a fundamental piece of the effort to raise student outcomes will be building and testing approaches that states and districts can adopt to effectively meet the needs of English learners.

As we approach policy changes that present important opportunities for researchers, I would like to share some “meditations” about language, as well as the worlds of education policy and practice, which I have repeated to myself over the years as I’ve worked in these areas.