Background

The Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) was formed to provide an organizational infrastructure that supports and promotes research focused on cause-and-effect relations important for education. The field of education research has always worked to construct a foundation of knowledge upon which educational practices may be reliably based. For nearly a century now, the American Educational Research Association has been the main professional organization that has supported and disseminated the work of education researchers. While recognizing the great contribution that AERA has made and will continue to make to education, many in the field of education have expressed the need for a more narrowly focused research organization.

Early Activity and Funding Support

In the spring of 2004, a small group of researchers initiated discussions related to the idea of forming a research organization that would be recognized by its commitment to applying procedural norms of science to the study of educational problems. During these discussions, it was soon realized that the desire to establish an organizational infrastructure in an expedient manner would be greatly facilitated by the availability of seed monies. In the summer of 2004, after a period of broad consultation with other researchers, Mark Constas (principal investigator, Cornell University), Barbara Foorman* (co-principal investigator, University of Texas Health Sciences Center), and Larry Hedges (co-principal investigator, then at the University of Chicago - presently at Northwestern University) decided to seek funding to support the founding of a new research organization. Because of its focus on science and its clear programmatic interest in questions of cause-and-effect, The Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education was identified as a possible funding source. A grant was submitted through the unsolicited grants program offered by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The proposal received a positive review through the IES review process and a grant award was made in the latter part of 2004.

Inaugural Meeting of the Advisory Board

Soon after the grant was awarded, an advisory board was created. The first meeting of the board was held at the University of Pennsylvania on May 22nd and 23rd of 2005. During that inaugural board meeting, a mission for SREE was established, areas of programmatic effort (e.g., publications, conferences) were identified, and a commitment was made to working with other research organizations within and beyond the field of education. A key outcome of the first board meeting was that SREE would establish itself as a specialist research organization within the field of education, an organization that is most centrally concerned with the investigation of questions of cause-and-effect critical for effective educational practice.

* Barbara Foorman withdrew from the project, prior to the grant award, when she made the decision to take a position in the Institute of Education Sciences. She has since resigned her position at IES and re-joined SREE as a member of the Advisory Board.