|
|
 |
With funding provided by the Institute of Education Sciences in 2003, APA launched the Postdoctoral Education Research Training Program (PERT) to increase the application of cutting edge psychological science to high quality school-based education research.
Psychology, a science of learning and behavior, is a core discipline in the field of education research. Psychology’s rigorous methodologies and bio-psychosocial models have much to contribute to our national effort to improve education.
To be maximally effective in this endeavor, the discipline of psychology needs to attract greater numbers of its researchers to careers in school-based education research. This is a central goal of the fellowship program.
PERT was designed to match promising psychologists with established mentors conducting education research for intensive training in order to:
- Attract psychological scientists to conduct research at the interface of psychology and education
- Develop education and training models to advance school-based scientific research, and
- Increase the visibility of education research within the discipline of psychology.
The postdoctoral training experience is preparing fellows for leadership positions in academic research. Fellowships were awarded to individuals interested in pursuing school-based research related to teaching and learning. The APA/IES PERT program independently solicited applications from mentors and students and employed a matching process to ensure the highest quality training experience with a pool of leading mentors. In active collaboration with their mentor, fellows developed a Research Training Plan that addressed issues such as: the pragmatics of conducting school-based research, reading comprehension, learning in the classroom, and evaluation research on education interventions, among others. In addition to being engaged in research training, all fellows participate in a series of joint activities that are focused on translating research into practice, promoting optimal socialization into the field, building a community of APA/IES PERT scholars, and developing interest in education sciences throughout the graduate education pipeline in psychology.
|
