American Institutes for Research (AIR) convened a group of 35 education researchers in Washington, DC, in April 2017 to discuss research that could advance the field of teacher education. Invited attendees, including Alder’s President, Heather Kirkpatrick, and Director of Research, Kristin Alvarez, discussed challenges and opportunities for education research.

Participants also crafted research questions of interest and explored themes that could inform study designs. AIR’s brief on the convening describes how attendees, “collectively agreed on some key themes to guide study designs—the research should be nuanced, actionable, formative, and contextualized. The themes could inform research designs that can fairly quickly lead to findings to inform teacher preparation—findings that are at the right grain-size, and speak directly and that speak directly to what goes on in preparation programs and be useful to providers hoping to improve teacher preparation.”

This convening is the first of two events AIR will hold to bring together researchers engaged in the advancement of teacher education. The second will be held in October 2017, offering an opportunity for invitees to present and receive feedback on research designs.

AIR’s brief of the convening is available here. To read the full report: “Fostering a New Approach to Research on Teacher Preparation: Results of the First Convening of Researchers, Practitioners, and K–12 Educators.”