National Center for Special Education Research

National Center for Special Education Research
Name	National Center for Special Education Research
Formation	2002
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Parent organization	Institute of Education Sciences

Contents

National Center for Special Education Research.

Overview

The National Center for Special Education Research was established within the Institute of Education Sciences as a federal research entity focused on special education, linking policy inquiries from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act with applied studies influenced by the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Health and Human Services. The Center's portfolio spans longitudinal studies, randomized trials, and syntheses that connect evidence from projects associated with the Every Student Succeeds Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Office of Special Education Programs, the Administration for Children and Families, and the National Science Foundation.

The Center's mission emphasizes rigorous research to improve outcomes for learners with disabilities, translating findings for stakeholders such as the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, the Special Olympics, the American Psychological Association, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Programs have included grant competitions, the What Works Clearinghouse collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and systematic review activities similar to practices of the Cochrane Collaboration, while coordinating data resources with the Common Core State Standards Initiative and supporting practitioner-focused materials used by the National Education Association.

Research priorities have targeted early identification comparable to studies by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and intervention effectiveness akin to trials at the Johns Hopkins University, focusing on areas such as literacy modeled on work from the University of Oregon, mathematics related to research from the University of Chicago, transition services referenced by Rutgers University, and assistive technology paralleling projects at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Major projects include longitudinal cohorts similar to the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, randomized interventions echoing the designs used by RAND Corporation, and large-scale syntheses inspired by reports from the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

Administratively housed within the Institute of Education Sciences, the Center operates under directors appointed through the United States Department of Education leadership, coordinates peer review panels drawn from scholars at Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and University of California, Los Angeles, and allocates grants through competitions resembling mechanisms used by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding streams derive from federal appropriations authorized by the United States Congress and have been supplemented through cooperative agreements with agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and philanthropic support from entities like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Spencer Foundation.

The Center partners with state agencies such as the California Department of Education, professional organizations including the Council for Exceptional Children and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, research consortia at institutions like the SRI International and the MDRC, and international collaborators referencing standards from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Collaborative initiatives have included data-sharing with the National Center for Education Statistics, joint funding with the National Institutes of Health, and dissemination efforts coordinated with the American Federation of Teachers and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

The Center's research has influenced policy decisions connected to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act reauthorizations, state special education regulations shaped by the Council of Chief State School Officers, and instructional practices adopted by districts associated with the National School Boards Association; however, debates have arisen involving methodological critiques from scholars at the American Educational Research Association, disputes over evidence standards highlighted by commentators at the Brookings Institution and Education Week, and concerns about resource allocation echoed by advocacy groups such as the National Disability Rights Network and the Autism Speaks community. Controversies have also involved tensions between randomized controlled trial advocates linked to the What Works Clearinghouse and qualitative researchers affiliated with the American Anthropological Association and critiques of federal oversight debated in hearings before the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.