Role models

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article today about a new report criticizing research doctorate programs at many schools of education. The article quotes a U.S. Department of Education official praising Carnegie Mellon (which has no school of education):

Mr. Whitehurst said that schools of education would do well to forge new alliances with departments of statistics and psychology. He pointed to the interdisciplinary predoctoral programs that the department has recently financed at institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University and Florida State University as potential models.

This is likely a reference to our Program in Interdisciplinary Education Research (PIER), which trains doctoral students from several disciplines — including psychology, statistics and robotics — to conduct applied educational research. The students earn a Ph.D. in their chosen field while performing research aimed at improving instruction in schools.

PIER is overseen by Psychology Professor David Klahr, who recently became the first Carnegie Mellon faculty member to be elected to the National Academy of Education. 

Jonathan Potts