Spencer Blog and Field Engagement Invitation, March 2018

Dear Spencer Community,

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post that described some of the complex challenges confronting education and, relatedly, the field of education research. In that post, I mentioned upcoming opportunities for the broader Spencer community to inform the Foundation’s strategic planning.

Towards that end, we have launched a survey asking educational researchers like yourselves to share what you believe to be the most interesting and important topics being taken up by our field as well as the challenges you face in conducting research. As we consider paths forward, we want to hear from you: the scholars, faculty, deans, and graduate students who comprise the field of education research. We want our vision and strategic directions to reflect what matters most to our community.

Spencer has always been a place that funds high-quality education research across the full spectrum of the field—inclusive of a range of topics, research methods, disciplinary orientations, and scholars. That is one of our most important commitments, and we intend to remain meaningfully field-oriented. At the same time, we recognize both education policy and practice have shifted, as have contexts in which educational research is developed, undertaken, and utilized. These shifts present both new opportunities and new challenges for scholars. We invite you to tell us what you think those are.

The survey should take approximately 20 minutes and will be open until May 30th. If you would like to participate in the survey, you can click here or copy and paste the link below into your web browser. Also, feel free to share the survey link with friends and colleagues.

Survey link: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4251059/fieldsurvey  

We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Best,

Na’ilah Nasir & Roey Ahram