FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Some of the nation’s leading education researchers will visit the University of Arkansas campus this school year for lunch and lively discussion.

They will talk about some of the most hotly debated topics in education reform these days — school financing, school choice, universal prekindergarten and factors that affect student achievement — topics about which they have conducted studies and published books and articles. They have informed policymakers and debated other researchers about subjects ranging from the relationship between school resources and student achievement to the effect that particular snacks have on achievement on test days.

Three of the speakers run state education systems, including Arkansas’, and one operates a leadership institute for school leaders, particularly those with nontraditional backgrounds. He became a superintendent after retiring as a general with the Air Force.

Questions, observations and even challenges from the audience are encouraged.

“We have a fantastic lineup of lectures this academic year,” said Jay P. Greene, head of the department of education reform, which is sponsoring the lecture series. “We are bringing in the leading scholars in their fields whose work addresses some of the most pressing issues in education reform. That’s part of our mission as a department: to bring the latest knowledge from research to inform policymakers, educators and the general public.”

All of the speakers are known for making presentations that are engaging and easy for the layperson to understand, Greene said.

The department of education reform was created in July 2005 with a $10 million private gift and $10 million from the university’s matching gift program. With these resources, the department has six endowed chairs, 10 doctoral fellowships and funds for research and projects. In addition to the department head who holds one endowed chair, the chairs focus on five priority areas: teacher quality, leadership, policy, accountability and transparency, and school choice. The leadership chair is open.

The lunchtime lectures, all on Fridays except one on a Thursday, will be held at noon in the Graduate Education Building room 210. Lunch is free and those attending are asked to RSVP to Catherine Shock at 575-3172 or cshock@uark.edu.

The schedule of lectures:

• Sept. 7 — William Howell is an associate professor in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. He will be presenting new research from public opinion surveys about education reform measures.

• Oct. 19 — William Jeynes is a professor of education at California State University at Long Beach and a scholar with the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. His work focuses on the effects of religiously affiliated schools on student learning.

• Oct. 26 — William Gormley is a university professor at Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute. He focuses on the areas of health and education policy and will talk about universal prekindergarten.

• Nov. 9 — Andrew Rotherham is a former education adviser to President Clinton and co-founder and co-director of Education Sector, a Washington-based think tank. He also operates one of the most widely read education blogs, Eduwonk.com.

• Nov. 30 — Raji Chakrabarti is an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her current research focuses on school choice including vouchers and charters, accountability, implications of the No Child Left Behind law, and issues in higher education such as merit aid and early admissions to U.S colleges.

• Jan. 25 — David Figlio is the Knight-Ridder Professor of Economics at the University of Florida and editor of the journal Education Finance and Policy. His wide range of research includes everything from an evaluation of policies ending social promotion to studies about the effects of snacks eaten on test days on academic achievement and how having an ethnic-sounding name affects student outcomes.

• Feb. 8 — John Fryer is a retired Air Force general and former superintendent of the Duvall County, Fla., schools. Fryer directs the National Institute for School Leadership in Washington.

• Feb. 15 — Susan Zelman is the superintendent of public instruction in Ohio. She is a former education professor and is responsible for one of the country’s largest school systems.

• March 13 — Paul Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government at Harvard University and editor of the journal Education Next. His books include The Education Gap: Vouchers and Urban Schools (Brookings Institution 2006).

• March 28 — Dave Driscoll is former commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education, and Ken James is commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education.

• April 11 — Michael Puma is president of Chesapeake Research Associates. His current research includes the National Head Start Impact Study, a randomized experiment involving a national longitudinal study of about 5,000 preschool children, The National Evaluation of Alternative Teacher Certification, and studies of educational technology and of efforts to improve programs for children with disabilities.

Eric Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and Caroline Hoxby, a former Harvard economist who recently joined the faculty at Stanford, plan to give lectures but dates have not been set yet.