[Discussion] Research Groups Accuse Education Department of Using Ideology in Decisions About Data

[Paksoy, Hb]

	Research Groups Accuse Education Department of Using Ideology in
Decisions About Data
Chronicle of Higher Education  25 November 2002

	Research Groups Accuse Education Department of  By RICHARD
MONASTERSKY <mailto:rich.monastersky@chronicle.com>  Education researchers,
social scientists, and library representatives have charged that the
Education Department is preparing to delete information from its Web site,
in part because the material does not reflect the philosophies of the Bush
administration.  The American Educational Research Association, the American
Library Association, and 12 other organizations expressed their concern
about what they see as a trend in a letter sent to Education Secretary
Roderick R. Paige last month and now posted as part of a statement on the
research association's Web site.
<http://www.aera.net/communications/news/federal.htm>  The letter is the
latest in a series of complaints alleging that the administration is
limiting information and research on specific issues for ideological
reasons. Scientists have been particularly vocal, contending that the
administration is stacking federal advisory and peer-review committees with
researchers whose views match the president's on issues ranging from
stem-cell research to ergonomics.  The letter says that the "library,
educational-research, and related social-science communities" grew concerned
when they learned of an internal memorandum issued to the Education
Department staff on May 31, 2002. According to the letter, the memo stated
that the federal goverment is seeking to remove information from public
access if it is outdated or "does not reflect the priorities, philosophies,
or goals of the present administration."  The 12 other organizations that
signed the letter are the American Association of Colleges for Teacher
Education, the American Economic Association, the American Sociological
Association, the Association of American Geographers, the Consortium of
Social Science Associations, the National Association of Secondary School
Principals, the National Association of Social Workers, the National
Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, the
National Education Association, the National Education Knowledge Industry
Association, the School Social Work Association of America, and the Society
for Research in Child Development.  In the statement posted on the Web site
of the American Educational Research Association last week, Felice J.
Levine, executive director of the association, said that solid science is
needed to create sound policies. "We need to ensure that research materials
remain accessible so that analysts can interrogate them further and compare
new results with prior data. We need to resist policies or procedures that
remove such information or make it difficult to find."  Daniel F. Langan,
the department's press secretary, said on Sunday that the department is
indeed updating its Web site but that it will archive old information.
"There has been quite a bit of misunderstanding about what the department is
trying to do," he said. "Certainly we want to make sure that the initiatives
of the administration are prominent on the Web site. That doesn't mean that
other information won't be available as well."