Month: May 2014

Here’s a link to a handout on research-related resources for ed writers

/ hollycooking / Leave a comment

Here’s a link to a listing of some resources for ed writers interested in covering research.

Download it as a word doc:

ewa_handoutyettick

 

Research Resources for Reporters

Note: This list is in no way, shape or form meant to be exhaustive!

 

The American Educational Research Association

 

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the world’s largest organization of educational researchers. The association publishes several of the top-rated peer-reviewed journals in the education field. The journals most likely to interest reporters are Review of Educational Research, Educational Researcher (briefer, more accessible articles[i]), American Educational Research Journaland Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

 

AERA Media Resources – www.aera.net/newsroom

 

  • Sign up to receive a complimentary electronic or print subscription to any of AERA’s journals.
  • Bookmark “Trending Research Topics” for full access to recent research on hot topics. The page is periodically updated with new topics and articles.
  • Contact AERA Communications for help identifying research and researchers that can add context to stories.
  • Contact AERA Communications for toll-free links to research articles to include in news stories.
  • Sign up to receive AERA news releases, including embargoed releases on forthcoming research.
  • Attend the AERA Annual Meeting as a member of the media. Each year, 2,500+ sessions feature emerging research in every area of education.
  • Review the AERA Annual Meeting program and request research of interest (and presenter contact information) from AERA Communications.

 

The American Economic Association

 

The AEA’s media relations department is available for questions about the Association, the American Economic Review (AER), Journal of Economic Literature (JEL), Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP), the American Economic Journals: Applied Economics, Economic Policy, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and EconLit.

 

To ask questions or sign up for the Association’s announcements and press releases, contact AEA’s media relations department at:

Phone: (615) 322-2595

Email: kristine.b.etter@Vanderbilt.Edu

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA/

 

 

The American Psychological Association (APA Public Affairs) offers journalists:

 

APA is an organization for psychologists and academics who study psychology, including educational psychology. They publish too many journals to mention, many of which contain articles related to education, learning and schools. Check out the Journal of Educational Psychology and Developmental Psychology. Also, APA offers:

 

  • Access to thousands of experts available for interviews. APA’s media referral service database can quickly provide reporters with the contact information for APA members who are researchers and clinicians and can comment about psychological aspects of breaking news. Contact APA Public Affairs with a referral request and a staff person will respond right away.
  • News on the latest psychological research from more than 80 peer-reviewed journals published by APA.  To receive news releases and media advisories contact APA Public Affairs.
  • Copies of APA journal articles on request.
  •  Various RSS feeds for several sources of psychology research and news, including APA’s Monitor on Psychology magazine and APA journals.

 

The American Sociological Association

 

The American Sociological Association publishes several peer-reviewed journals that might interest ed reporters, including Sociology of Education, American Sociological Review, and Contexts (a peer-refereed journal aimed at both sociologists and non-sociologists.)

 

  • ASA has more than 700 sociologists in its Experts Database, which consists of subject matter experts who have agreed to speak with the media. ASA can also facilitate interviews with sociologists who have not registered for the database.
  • Journalists can sign up to receive ASA news releases, including embargoed releases, on sociological research as well as media advisories featuring sociologists who can address particularly timely topics. Email pubinfo@asanet.org to sign up.
  • Journalists can receive complimentary access to the ASA Annual Meeting. Each meeting features approximately 600 sessions and more than 3,000 studies on a wide range of timely topics.
  • By request, journalists can receive free copies of individual studies in any ASA journal. Journalists can receive free access to Contexts.

 

 

Association for Education Finance and Policy

 

The Association for Education Finance and Policy is a rapidly-growing organization with a peer-refereed journal (Education Finance and Policy) and an annual conference. The journal and conference both feature a lot of research on timely topics such as teacher evaluation, and school choice.

 

  • Contact Executive Director Angela Hull at info@aefpweb.org or 573-814-9878 or visit http://www.aefpweb.org
  • AEFP provides free, universal access to papers presented at its annual conference, where journalists can register for free.
  • AEFP can provide you access to specific articles from its journal.

 

Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness

 

SREE research tends to be timely and relevant. The organization holds two annual conferences and also publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.

 

E-mail: inquiries@sree.org

Phone: 202.495.0920

Text: 202.495.0920

Fax: 202.640.4401

 

https://www.sree.org/

 

News/ non-academic publications that cover educational research

 

  • Education Week (I currently write for this publication.) Archives are searchable back to 1981. Subscriptions start at $29 for six months.
  • The Chronicle of Higher Educationand Inside Higher Ed cover both research on higher ed and research by higher ed professionals who study K-12. Chronicle subscriptions are $78 per year. Inside Higher Ed offers free access.
  • Phi Delta Kappan  ($95 annual fee to join Phi Delta Kappa International)
  • Hechinger Report (no cost)
  • Education Next  (Note: I was part of a team that submitted a piece to this journal that was, sadly, rejected!)This publication runs a mixture of accessible, brief peer-reviewed articles and journalism on education, plus commentary. The right-leaning Hoover Institution publishes the journal. My dissertation research indicates that this is the source of peer-reviewed education research that journalists are most likely to mention in their coverage.

 

More academic journals

 

 

 

Other Resources

 

  • American Institutes for Research
  • RAND
  • National Bureau of Economic Research
  • Regional Education Labs
  • Institute of Education Sciences
  • ERIC (search engine)
  • What Works Clearinghouse
  • Mathematica Policy Research
  • SRI International
  • National Council on Measurement in Education: Check out their testing glossary.
  • National Education Policy Center (Note: My dissertation advisor directs this center and I worked for them as a doc student.) This organization is housed at the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education. If you are going to mention or cover research from an advocacy-oriented think tank, check out their Think Twice project, which provides brief, accessible peer reviews of think tank studies. In the past,  the organization has been accused of being overly focused on critiquing right-leaning think tanks but that claim is somewhat difficult to assess since there are more right-leaning than left-leaning think tanks and also because they do critique reports from organizations with a variety of different orientations. (For instance, the last three reports have been on studies by the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, the centrist/non-ideological National Bureau of Economic Research and Sonecon, Inc., a consulting firm led by a former advisor to the Clinton and Obama administrations.) NEPC also commissions research reports, and aggregates content from other sites. They can hook you up with experts (most university-based) who are their “fellows.” The research tends to focus on questions of educational equity. They are often attacked for accepting money from a group funded by teachers’ unions. They also receive funding from the Ford Foundation and other sources.
  • Center on Reinventing Public Education. (Note: My current boss, Paul Teske, is one of their affiliates.) This organization is affiliated with the University of Washington. They tend to focus more on improving school choice than on critiquing it.
  • ETS (Note: I worked here during two different summers.) ETS is the non-profit organization that brought you the GRE, the SAT, the Praxis and other exams. The organization also does research on a variety of topics related to education.
  • ACT ACT is ETS’s competitor in the non-profit world, producing the ACT college admissions exam. This organization also produces research.

 

 

[i] Note: I have an article in press here.

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