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The Forum on the Future of Public Education

The Forum on the Future of Public Education strives to bring the best empirical evidence to policymakers and the public.

The Forum draws on a network of premier scholars to create, interpret, and disseminate credible information on key questions facing P-20 education. The Forum pursues original research and facilitates collaboration between researchers and policymakers to examine the pressing issues shaping the future of public education. Key constituencies of the Forum include scholars who influence research, policy and practice; policy makers and policy making bodies at all levels; members of the media who influence public opinion; foundations, organizations, business groups and others who support, criticize and advocate for reform; and citizens who make choices about education for themselves and their children.

America is witnessing a drastic redefinition of the policies and practices associated with “public education.” Too often, discussions around the future of public education are strong on passion but short on actual evidence. The Forum for the Future of Public Education is filing that gap by building a resource of objective, research-based insights on key educational issues. We are establishing an open venue- a true public forum to debate controversial and consequential policy issues that will shape American’s future.

Latest News

Ed Psych scholar to receive Lindquist Award at 2017 AERA Meeting

by the College of Education at Illinois / Apr 19, 2018

Hua-Hua ChangProfessor Hua-Hua Chang of the Department of Educational Psychology has been awarded the 2017 E.F. Lindquist Award in recognition of his outstanding applied and theoretical research in the field of testing and measurement.

Presented jointly by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and American College Testing (ACT), the honor acknowledges a body of research of an empirical, theoretical, or integrative nature rather than a single study.

The award will be presented to Dr. Chang on April 29 at the AERA Awards Luncheon in San Antonio as part of the organization’s Annual Meeting, which takes place this year April 27 through May 1.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award,” said Chang.

Chang’s past honors include a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award, a Distinguished Senior Scholar Award from the College of Education, an Annual Award from the National Council on Measurement in Education, a Significant Contribution Award from AERA’s Division D, and a Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professorship from the Ministry of Education of China

Recently, Chang and his colleagues have developed various techniques to combine cognitive diagnosis with Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) to help classroom education and online learning. The team’s NSF-funded research has shown promising results in utilizing CAT to help low-performing students in the STEM field. In addition, Chang’s newly funded NSF project will focus on detection of learning in cognitive diagnosis.

Chang is also leading a group of graduate students in the development of cutting-edge techniques to support the Chinese Language Proficiency Test (HSK), the world's second largest language proficiency exam. His research team has developed a preliminary version of the Web-based CAT HSK exam. This system enables tailored selection of items for different test-takers for a more efficient HSK test administration through reduced test length, more standardized service, and simplified test administration and data collection.

Chang said that through this system the Illinois campus could eventually host and be the support hub for the Web-based HSK test in North America.