AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
Newsletter for Educational Psychologists

November 1999                                  Volume 23 Number 1

I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as the Division's President.  It is a great honor.  Dale Schunk enjoyed a very successful presidency, and he and the other Division Officers closed the 1998-99 with a growing membership base and on a strong financial note.  Dale and his fellow Officers left us with a well functioning Division.  For that, I am grateful.

At these times of transition, it is particularly important, I believe, to revisit our mission and remind ourselves of what we are about.  Here is what it says in the bylaws:

Knowledge, theory, and application are our mission.  Clearly, the work we do is central to teaching and learning.  Education in the United States is of deep concern to all of us--parents, teachers, students, political leaders and the general public.  As we approach the presidential election in November, 2000, undoubtedly, we will hear over and again how central education is to our nation's well being.  Yet, the complex world of education rests on relatively weak research base.  Even the strongest research often fails to find its way into practice.  We need to work together to change that.

Let me share some ideas on how we can help make a difference.  First, our membership base needs to continue to grow--bringing new members, affiliates and students into the Division.  We have now, for the first time, an electronic
Membership database that will enable the

Division to grow and reach out to new members. 

And I will be working this year with my Executive Committee to further strengthen our membership.  As I said earlier, our financial base is strong and I intend to use those assets in ways that improve our publications and promote their influence and efficacy.  A new handbook on training will be forthcoming, and I will ask the Publications Committee to develop a strategy for broadening the reach of our publications through more aggressive marketing and by exploring the use of the internet. 

My predecessors helped create a pipeline for new scholars with efforts such as the Ad Hoc Committee on Graduate Students. We will work this year to expand those efforts by providing program time to issues of graduate training and mentoring.  These efforts will ensure a strong future for the field.  And finally, this year we will actively reach out to other organizations--AERA, the National Research Council, and the National Academy of Education, for example--to explore ways to strengthen educational practice by the careful application of scientific research.  Many of our members are actively involved in creating this strategic education research agenda, but more work needs to be done.  More of us have to be part of that effort.

To do all this, I need your help.  Fortunately, there is an enormous amount of talent and expertise residing in the members of Division 15.  As we organize that expertise to address our mission and improve education, I will be calling on many of you for help and guidance.  If you don't hear from me, give a call or send an e-mail and let me know how we can work together on these important issues.   

In This Issue:

Everson -
Presidential Message

Division 15 -
Graduate Student  Research Seminar

Minutes-
Business and
Executive Committee Meeting