Sociology Exhibited on Capitol Hill
Washington, DC, June 7, 2006 — ASA sponsored another successful and popular science poster on Capitol Hill at the 12th Annual Exhibition and Reception sponsored by the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), an organization of approximately 100 science societies including ASA. The event had over 325 attendees, including six Members of Congress, which is an impressive turnout.
Johns Hopkins University sociologist Karl Alexander displayed his National Science %20for%20web.jpg)
Foundation (NSF)-funded research on “The Beginning School Study: Life Course Patterns of Urban Youth through the 3rd Decade.”
Left: Karl Alexander, Johns Hopkins University, speaks with Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), Chair of the Research Subcommittee of the House Science Committee, about his NSF-funded longitudinal research on educational outcomes of students in the Baltimore's public school system.
Alexander’s research is on the Beginning School Study, which since 1982 has been monitoring the personal and academic development of a large, representative sample of youth in 20 Baltimore City Public Schools. NSF support has been critical in sustaining the project over its 20+ year lifetime. The BSS is anchored by survey data procured at the start of first grade from the sampled children, their parents, teachers and school records, while interviews at ages 22 and age 28 (each achieving 80% panel coverage) chart the group's life experience over the years after high school. Between these anchors, there is rich detail on home circumstances and school experiences over the elementary, middle, and high school years. A public use version of the data archive is available though the Harvard – MIT Murray Research Center.
The BSS CNSF poster display focused on three areas of research: 1) seasonal learning patterns over the elementary grades, examining differences across social lines in school-year and summer achievement gains; 2) effects of grade retention and other forms of educational tracking on student outcomes, including academic performance, socioemotional development, and high school dropout; and 3) early risk factors for high school dropout, which predict the odds of dropout almost as well as measures from ninth grade. These and other BSS studies have lead the way in showing the long shadow cast by formative experiences during the early grades.
Alexander’s CNSF poster was one of 34 research exhibits—ranging from nanotechnology to racial bias—at the popular summer reception in the Rayburn House Office Building at which members of Congress and their staff see some of the fruits of NSF basic research. This year’s reception was expected to draw at least 350 
attendees.
Right: NSF Director Arden Bement and Karl Alexander at the ASA-sponsored poster. Executive Officer Sally Hillsman is in the background.
The CNSF Exhibition/Reception is held each year on Capitol Hill and this year’s event also attracted several congressional personal staff, congressional science committee staff (Senate and House), and senior-level federal science agency officials who discussed the researchers’ work. The Coalition for National Science Funding advocates for the future vitality of the national science, mathematics, and engineering enterprise. For the complete listing of posters, see the CNSF website www.cnsfweb.org.
