Introduction

This chapter explores the current environment for education research in the United States (US) and the ways in which recent changes in the national policy framework, resources, infrastructure, and roles have introduced both new options and key challenges for university-based education researchers in developing, disseminating, and transferring research knowledge. The chapter begins by describing the federal government's recent role in defining the education research environment and framing the research agenda. This federal influence has been exercised through building and funding research capacity, infrastructure, and resources and federalising policy and national education priorities established under the No Child Left Behind legislation (NCLB, 2002). The main premise of this chapter is that current national policies and priorities for education research set a new course by prescribing what is to be researched and how that research is to be designed, conducted, and disseminated to education policy makers and practitioners.

The main body of the chapter explores new trends likely to shape university-based education research going forward. These include changes in federal funding priorities; research quality, design, and rigour; information technologies and data systems; publication, audience, and knowledge transfer; and research relevance and utilisation. The roles of public and private entities such as state governments and foundations are also considered. These factors have implications not only for university researchers, research scholarship, and the education research process itself, but also for schools of education and national and local policy and practice.

The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of these trends for how university-based education research is conducted and consumed. The current context presents university scholars and researchers with new opportunities, and resources, while also imposing limitations, trade-offs, and competition. The trends in federal policy, funding, and infrastructure development that began with the passage of NCLB continue to influence the process of education research and the roles of universities in that process. The extent to which the new federalism will shape the future direction of university-based education research and its transformation into education policy and practice depends on whether universities respond to these trends as opportunities or impediments.