One Example:

IES Research Training Institute: Cluster Randomized Trials

Objective:     To increase the national capacity to develop and conduct rigorous evaluations of the effectiveness of education interventions by training researchers to conduct cluster (group) randomized trials in education settings.

Type:     Training
Dates:     June 17 to June 29, 2007
Location:     Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN

The Training Institute will be held at the Wyatt Center at Peabody College on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN…. Optimal Solutions Group, LLC is working with the National Center for Education Research to provide support for the Research Training Institute.

The Course Will Enable Participants To:

• Describe the principles underlying randomized experiments and their advantages for making causal inferences.
• Understand the hierarchical structure of populations in education (students nested in classes nested in schools) and its implications for study design and analysis of data.
• Select appropriate measures for assessing outcomes, describing implementation fidelity, and capturing process variables.
• Acquire knowledge and strategies for designing and conducting a cluster randomized trial.

Faculty:    

Howard Bloom, Ph.D.,
Chief Social Scientist, MDRC

Margaret Burchinal, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist and Director of the Data Management and Analysis Center at the FPG Child Development Institute;
Research Professor in Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

David S. Cordray, Ph.D.
Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University

Fred Doolittle, Ph.D.
Director of the Policy Research and Evaluation Department, MDRC

John W. Graham, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State University

Larry V. Hedges, Ph.D.
Board of Trustees Professor of Statistics;
Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University

Mark W. Lipsey, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Evaluation Research and Methodology and a Senior Research Associate at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, Vanderbilt University

Ina Wallace, Ph.D.
Senior Research Psychologist at RTI International

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See the list of NAEP and NAEP-related topics to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) on April 8-12:  The list includes two NAEP training sessions.

The annual advanced studies seminar on the use of the NAEP database for education research and policy analysis is scheduled for June 19-21, 2007. Register before May 15.

See additional training opportunities.

See more information for NAEP researchers.