An inaugural symposium with be held to commemorate the establishment of the World Education Research Association (WERA) on Tuesday, September 29, 2009, as an integral part of the program of the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER). This session is scheduled for 10:30 – 12:00, immediately following the formal public ceremony officially noting WERA and its world-wide objectives for the advancement of education research. The WERA symposium is addressed to “Cumulative Knowledge, the Advancement of Theory, and Research Rigor in Education Research.” Three internationally recognized scholars whose research and research programs have advanced understanding of education and learning will present papers from the vantage of their specialties, their understanding of the state of the science, and the importance of building theory and refining measures and methods in a world often preoccupied by evidenced-based problem solving. The speakers are Dr. Eva Baker (University of California, Los Angeles and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing), Dr. Yin Cheong Cheng (Vice President for Research & Development and Chair Professor, Hong Kong Institute of Education), and Dr. Eckhard Klieme (Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt/ Main and former Director of the German Institute for International Educational Research). This symposium relates to the overall 2009 theme of the ECER Conference on “Theory and Evidence in Educational Research.”