WASHINGTON, March 22, 2012–AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies today. Her testimony supported the proposed FY 2013 budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). As proposed, EHR would receive $875.6 million in FY 2013, an increase of $46.6 million, or 5.6 percent, over the FY 2012 appropriations.
Levine's testimony called attention to EHR's role in furthering research and development in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education and supported the new plan in the budget to create a more robust research and development (R&D) program that is integrated within the four divisions of EHR. The NSF budget called for investments in the following core R&D areas: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, broadening participation and institutional capacity in STEM, and STEM professional workforce preparation. The testimony also supported EHR's efforts to evaluate and conduct longitudinal studies on its cross-directorate programs, particularly in light of overall decreased long-term investment in EHR. Levine noted that investment in EHR has decreased by 2.3 percent, accounting for inflation, since 2006.
The written testimony submitted to the subcommittee may be accessed at www.aera.net.
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The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.