UCLA Picked for Education Research

The Education Department Wednesday announced a $54.5-million grant to establish 10 new educational research and development centers, including one at UCLA and another at the University of California, Berkeley.

UCLA received $5 million to establish a center to develop “more effective, efficient and fair methods of testing.” Eva L. Baker, speaking for UCLA’s pioneering Center for the Study of Evaluation, said the university will work closely with Los Angeles public schools to apply its testing theories to the classroom.

With a center on bilingual education already operating on campus since 1981, UCLA will become the only university in the nation to host two federally sponsored research centers. The University of Illinois, the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado will cooperate in the new project.

The Berkeley center, which received a $4-million grant, will focus on the teaching of writing skills. It will be operated in cooperation with Carnegie-Mellon University of Pittsburgh.

In announcing the new centers, Chester E. Finn Jr., assistant education secretary for research and improvement, conceded that there traditionally has been a “lack of linkage between research and practice.” Asked at a news conference if he expects improvement in the future, he said: “All I can confirm is that we will bust our behinds to make it so.”

The 10 new centers, chosen from a list of 110 candidates in a year-long competition, will begin operating Dec. 1.