The National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) was an organization of scholars, professional educators, and policy makers. Among these members, the NSSE strove to create a vigorous, inclusive dialogue that addressed educational problems and focused on the relationships between pedagogical research, policy, and practice. To catalyze this dialogue, the NSSE hosted meetings, engaged in interorganizational conferences, and published a two-volume, annual yearbook.

Having originated from the National Herbart Society (1895–1901), christened for the revolutionary educational thinker, Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776–1841), the NSSE was founded in 1901 and published its first yearbook in 1902. Each yearbook was thematically centered on a particular educational issue that interested the general public and the NSSE's members. For instance, the 1983 Individual Differences and the Common Curriculum issue contained ...