NIE's Mission 



The general mission of NIE is set forth in its 

 legislation, which established NIE to carry out the 

 following policies: 



Sec. 405 (a) (I) The Congress hereby declares it 

 to be the policy of the United States to provide 

 to every person an equal opportunity to receive 

 an education of high quality regardless of his 

 race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or 

 social class. Although the American education- 

 al system has pursued this objective, it has not 

 yet attained that objective. Inequalities of op- 

 portunity to receive high quality education re- 

 main pronounced. To achieve quality will re- 

 quire far more dependable knowledge about the 

 processes of learning and education than now 

 exists or can be expected from present research 

 and experimentation in this field. While the 

 direction of the education system remains pri- 

 marily the responsibility of State and local gov- 

 ernments, the Federal Government has a clear 

 responsibility to provide leadership in the con- 

 duct and support of scientific inquiry into the 

 educational process. 



(2) The Congress further declares it to be the 



policy of the United States to — 

 (i) help to solve or to alleviate the problems 

 of, and promote the reform and renewal of 

 American education; 



(ii) advance the practice of education, as an 

 art. science, and profession; 

 (iii) strengthen the scientific and technologi- 

 cal foundations of education; and 

 (iv) build an effective educational research 

 and development system. 



This mission is made more explicit in NIE's 

 reauthorization for the three-year period FY 1977- 

 79. 

 (2) The Institute shall, in accordance with the 

 provisions of this section, seek to improve edu- 

 cation in the United States through concentrat- 

 ing the resources of the Institute on the follow- 

 ing priority research and development needs — 



(A) improvement in student achievement in the 

 basic educational skills, including reading and 

 mathematics; 



(B) overcoming problems of finance, productiv- 

 ity, and management in educational institutions; 



(C) improving the ability of schools to meet their 

 responsibilities to provide equal educational 

 opportunities for students of limited English- 

 speaking ability, women, and students who are 

 socially, economically, or educationally disad- 

 vantaged ; 



(D) preparation of youths and adults for entering 

 and progessing in careers; and 



(E) improved dissemination of the results of, 

 and knowledge gained from, educational re- 

 search and development, including assistance to 

 educational agencies and institutions in the ap- 

 plication of such results and knowledge. 

 (General Education Provisions Act, as amend- 

 ed.) 



Definition of Basic Research 



NIE's definition of basic research relevant to 

 education is contained in the following policy 

 adopted September 16, 1977, by the National 

 Council on Educational Research: 



"To ensure that fundamental research is a ma- 

 jor part of the National Institute of Education's 

 plans for addressing the educational needs identi- 

 fied in its statutory mandate, the Institute shall 

 develop its programs in accord with the following 

 guidelines: 



I. DEFINITION 



Fundamental research in education is disci- 

 plined inquiry whose purpose is to understand 

 why and how education takes place. In funda- 

 mental research, the investigator is concerned 

 primarily with gaining a fuller knowledge or 

 understanding of the subject under study. 



II. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS 



A. At least 207r of the Institute's funds shall be 

 used to support fundamental research rele- 

 vant to education by FY 1979, and by FY 

 1985 this shall have increased to at least 

 30%. 



B. An important part of NIE support for fun- 

 damental research shall be through grants 

 for projects conducted by individual investi- 

 gators or small groups of investigators. 



III. RESEARCH COMMUNITY INVOLVE- 

 MENT 



A. The major purpose of research supported 

 under this policy shall be to extend the 

 knowledge gained through previous or cur- 

 rent educational research or to explore 

 areas where knowledge is lacking and re- 

 search is needed. Since those who are most 

 familiar with such areas of research are in- 

 vestigators in the field, the Institute shall, to 

 the maximum extent possible, rely upon 

 their assistance in identifying research 

 needs and research to be supported. This 

 assistance should include, but not be limited 

 to, submission of unsolicited proposals, par- 

 ticipation in developing guidelines, and re- 



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