Conceptions of Research and Development for Education in the United States

Abstract

In the early 1960s, spurred by federal initia tives and funding, a movement got underway to place educa tional practice on a foundation of scientifically based know ledge. The Research and Development Centers pro gram was the first of several institutional approaches to what came later to be known as the knowledge production and use (KPU) system in education. Based on their thirteen. years of case study experience of one such center, and their application of a sociology of knowledge framework to some of the larger policy issues, the authors trace some of the positive and negative effects of this attempt to place education in the domain of "big science." They discuss the evolution of models for educational R&D, which are prescrip tive, rather than descriptive, of intellectual activity. The development of epistemic communities and ensuing stan dards of judgment in the one institution are also seen to have been crucial to its development. While a final judg ment of the efficacy of the Research and Development Cen ters program and other related efforts is not possible, some of the products and outcomes of these programs are now visibly available.