Comment: Be Careful What You Wish For—You May Get It: Educational Research in the Spotlight

Two matters of deep concern in the Feuer, Towne, and Shavelson article are the focus of this commentary. First, the authors agree that legislative mandates reifying particular methodological approaches would be ill informed and misdirected. Rather, what is legislatively appropriate is a mandate for rigorous peer review of federally funded work combined with funding to support such a review infrastructure within federal agencies. Second, the authors argue that building a professional community poses a substantial challenge that demands action not only by individual researchers but also by institutions of higher education. A thorough reconsideration of researcher training is in order if the desired professional community is to be achieved.