A View of Postsecondary Educational Research from HEW

7 A VIEW OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FROM HEW C. E. Christian Department of Health, Education and Welfare The Federal Role Federal support of postsecondary education research is a critical func­ tion, and ensuring its effectiveness is a high priority for the Department of HEW. By and large, the issues involved in such research efforts transcend the specific concerns and funding capabilities of an individual campus or state system, and the results are a potential benefit to all institutions, students, and the entire society. The planning and funding of research at the national level can promote coordinated exploration of problems and reduce the wasteful duplication of numerous small-scale, non-generalizable studies. The successes of federally supported research in medicine, agriculture, and the physical sciences set hopeful precedents for the efficiency and cost-ef­ fectiveness of the federal role. Funding Historically, expenditures for educational research activities lag signi­ ficantly behind other sectors. Of all the monies spent on education in this country, only one-half of one percent is allocated to education R & D, in contrast to three percent in agriculture, four percent in the health fields, and eight percent in industry. Of that one-half percent, less that a tenth goes for research at the postsecondary level. Structure of HEW Research Activities The present meager funding levels should be further considered in light of the many activities subsumed under the rubric "research.” The research functions of HEW's Education Division include evaluation, demonstration pro­ jects, dissemination, statistical activities, policy analysis, and the pro­ duction of new knowledge through basic research. Although many of these functions are overlapping, the Federal system can generally be viewed as having specifically designated particular research-re­ lated functions among five agencies: 1. The Office of Education spent $340 million on research in 1977 to fulfill legislative requirements for studies of Title I, handicapped, and voca­ tional education, and to conduct R & D activities including evaluation of all OE programs. However, only 1.5 percent (about $5 million) was spent in the postsecondary area, and $2 million of that figure went for Congressionally mandated evaluations of existing federal programs. 2. The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, which spent $11.5 million last year, was established to encourage reform and innova­ tion through programs such as its National Project on Better Information for Student Choice. Although FIPSE is concerned only with postsecondary education, its mission focuses on developmental and demonstration pro­ jects leaving evaluating, policy analysis, statistics, and basic research to the other agencies. 3. The National Center for Education Statistics collects and maintains the statistical information needed by the Federal government. Since the passage of the Education Amendments of 1974, its mission has expanded to include an analysis function such as reporting on the national condition 8 of education. Last year NCES spent $13 million, allocating only $3.5 million (or 27 percent) to postsecondary concerns— mostly funding the an­ nual HEGIS data collection. 4. The National Institute of Education was legislatively created as the fo­ cal point for basic research in education. Of the $64 million NIE spent last year for research, only minimal contributions were made in the post­ secondary area, with the expectation that FIPSE would cover that sector. 5. Policy analysis functions are mainly the province of two offices within the central HEW administration. The office of Assistant Secretary for Education funds the Policy Research Center for Postsecondary Education and Society which is designed to provide timely analyses to inform dis­ cussions of policy issues in the Education Division. The office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation is responsible for devel­ oping and overseeing long-range planning for education, and maintains a modest budget for evaluation and policy analysis. We have used these funds to support studies of current issues such as the effects of federal student aid policies on enrollment patterns. Overview of HEW Research Efforts in Postsecondary Education As outlined above, R & D efforts in postsecondary education are small relative to other educational levels, and other subject areas. Research-re­ lated activities are scattered throughout a variety of agencies, each acting in accord with its own Congressional or administrative mandate, budget limi­ tations, priorities, and special interest groups. This...