Editorial, Review of Educational Research

1970

Gene V. Glass (1970). Editorial, Review of Educational Research, 40(3).

The first volume of the Review of Educational Research which was published in 1931 contained a complete listing of all 329 members of the American Educational Research Association! AERA has grown to nearly 10,000 members, and educational research has grown with it. As the organization and the discipline have changed, AERA's publication program has changed. In 1964, the American Educational Research Journal was created as an outlet for original contributions to educational research. In April 1969, the Editorial Board of the Review of Educational Research proposed to the Association Council that the nearly forty-year old Review be reorganized so it might better serve the purposes of the Association's publications program. Since 1931, the Review has published solicited review manuscripts organized around a topic for each issue. Generally, a slate of fifteen topics was chosen by the Editorial Board and each topic was reviewed once each three years in one of the five issues per volume. An issue chairman was selected by the Editor and given the authority to choose chapters and authors for the issue. The Review has served well for many years both the discipline of educational research and the profession of education. As an organization and as a profession, we are grateful for the generosity and efforts of the more than 1,000 scholars who have contributed to the Review.

The purpose of the Review has always been the publication of critical, integrative reviews of published educational research. In the opinion of the Editorial Board, this goal can now best be achieved by pursuing a policy of publishing unsolicited reviews of research on topics of the contributor's choosing. In reorganizing the Review, AERA is not turning away from the task of periodically reviewing published research on a set of broad topics. The role played by the Review in the past will be assumed by an Annual Review of Educational Research, which AERA is currently planning. The reorganization of the Review of Educational Research is an acknowledgment of a need for an outlet for reviews of research that are initiated by individual researchers and shaped by the rapidly evolving interests of these scholars.

Knowledge about education is not increasing nearly as fast as is alleged, but the proliferation of the educational research literature is obvious. A body of literature can grow faster than a body of knowledge when it swells with false knowledge, inconclusive or contradictory findings,, repetitive writing or simple dross. If knowledge is not subjected to scrutiny, it cannot be held confidently to be true. Moreover, if knowledge is to be "known" it must be "packed down" into assimilable portions either in reviews of literature or in textbooks. The integration of isolated research reports and the criticism of published works serve an essential purpose in the growth of a discipline. The organization and maintenance of old knowledge is no less important than the discovery of new knowledge. It is hoped that the new editorial policy of the Review, with its implicit invitation to all scholars, will contribute to the improvement and growth of disciplined inquiry on education.

The third number of the fortieth volume of the Review is the first issue to be published under the new editorial policy.

Gene V Glass
Editor