National Research Council of the National Academies Says NO EVIDENCE
On the basis of the committee’s analysis of 147 studies, they concluded that the corpus of evaluation studies as a whole across the 19 programs studied does not permit one to determine the effectiveness of individual programs with a high degree of certainty, due to the restricted number of studies for any particular curriculum, limitations in the array of methods used, and the uneven quality of the studies.
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Education Policy and Information: We Need Good Science To Analyze and Interpret Educational Data
by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.
"To those who must make decisions, it is disconcerting that so much educational data have produced so little usable information. … In a field beset with ideology and politics, it is not surprising that good science is in short supply. But regardless of one’s faith in markets or, alternatively, in state regulation, we still need reliable information, which means that we need really good science, not the impostor that now calls itself ‘research’ in the field of education."
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Classroom Research and Cargo Cults
by E.D. Hirsch Jr., Policy Review, October 2002
Prof. Hirsch continues asking why decades of supposed "research" provides so little useful guidance for setting school policy. The title refers to an observation by Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman, and Hirsch’s uses that to explain that "while educational research sometimes adopts the outward form of science, it does not burrow to its essence." This article provides rich detail on the problems in what is currently published as "education research."
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Determining What Works in the Classroom
by Paul Clopton and Bill Evers, San Diego Union Tribune September 8, 2004
"Teachers would like to know what teaching practices and instructional materials would work best for their students. Every teacher has heard the phrases ’studies show that …’ and ‘research-based program,’ but all too often teachers can’t find usable research for their K-12 classrooms.”
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The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
collects, screens, and identifies studies of effectiveness of educational interventions (programs, products, practices, and policies). The Clearinghouse chose peer-assisted learning (also known as ‘group learning’) and middle-school mathematics as the first topics to investigate. So far, the results confirm the perception that we have a long way to go in the scientific study of education. For the peer-learning category, 15 of 191 studies met Clearinghouse criteria. (Some 109 studies have yet to be screened.) For the mathematics category, one met Clearinghouse criteria, one was close (met with reservations), and 48 did not meet the standards (20 are yet to be screened). Worse yet, neither of the two acceptable mathematics studies showed any significant difference between methods. Some argue that the standards used to evaluate studies are too stringent. … If anything, the Clearinghouse may have engaged in a bit of grade inflation so that it didn’t end up rejecting all the studies. … Teachers need educational research that provides good advice on which materials and methods are best for classroom use for specified academic objectives with various groups of students. Clearly, the message from the What Works Clearinghouse is that educational research has a long way to go."
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Follow Through: Why didn’t we?
"Are proven teaching methods already available?" by Cathy L. Watkins:
"What do we do with a teaching technique that works? Surely, educators would welcome such a breakthrough with open arms. Incredibly, they haven’t. Project Follow Through, the largest experiment ever undertaken to find effective methods for teaching disadvantaged children, discovered such a teaching method at a [research] cost of nearly a billion dollars.”
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Research Regarding Direct Instruction by Dave Ziffer
This article describes the results of a lengthy study on the effects of direct instruction. Also includes information about Project Follow-Through.
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Why Education Experts Resist Effective Practices
(And What It Would Take to Make Education More Like Medicine) by Douglas Carnine
After describing assorted hijinks in math and reading instruction, Doug devotes considerable space to examining what educators did with the results of Project Follow Through, one of the largest education experiments ever undertaken. This study compared constructivist education models with those based on direct instruction. One might have expected that, when the results showed that direct instruction models produced better outcomes, these models would have been embraced by the profession. Instead, many education experts discouraged their use.
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Research and innovation: Let the buyer beware
by J. E. Stone and A. Clements, in "The Superintendent of the Future," edited by Robert R. Spillane & Paul Regnier
"Schools are inundated with research that promises to improve achievement. Yet when programs are implemented results always seem to fall short. How can it be in school after school, year after year? The answer depends on whom you ask."
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Sciencephobia: Why education rejects randomized experiments
by Thomas D. Cook
"The American education system … has been continually roiled by tides of … experimentation … Experimentation, however, means more than simply changing the way we do things. It also means systematically evaluating these alternatives."
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Detriment to Students: Education reformers take aim at flawed, incomplete research
by Susan Laccetti Meyers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 3, 2001
"…One of the real impediments to true education reform is that many of the scholars either have preconceived ideas that they attempt to validate, or they have a predetermined agenda. Many researchers are funded by groups or liberal-leaning foundations that have not warmed to reform. Many, too, are based at colleges of education and are loath to venture outside their personal experiences and training."
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The Difference Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research
by George K. Cunningham, professor, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology University of Louisville, August 29, 1999
"I have to respond to this often-repeated assertion that there is extensive empirical research in support of constructivist methods of instruction. When most people read this assertion, they assume that there are a series of studies in which groups of students are taught using different methodologies and that on the basis of some sort of objective measure, those taught using constructivist methods scored higher. Nothing could be further from the truth. Advocates of constructivism view such research methodology as a tool of a patriarchal system bent on subjugating the disadvantaged."
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The Virtues of Randomness
by Robert Boruch, Education Next, Fall 2002
"Randomized field trials are a sturdy method of generating defensible evidence about the relative effectiveness of various interventions … Yet this powerful technique of discovering what works has been slow to come to the field of education.”
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Resisting the Assault on Science: The Case for Evidence-Based Reasoning in Educational Research
by Richard E. Mayer
“I recently expressed the opinion that educational research should be scientific, that is, educational research should be based on empirical evidence and reasoned argument rather than on opinion (Mayer, 2000). In my argument, I offered two reasons for basing educational research on science: (1) Science is self-correcting, so that unproductive theories eventually can be discarded on the basis of mounting evidence and reasoned argument. The alternative view that all forms of discourse—including art—are equally valid leads our field into relativism. (2) Rejecting science will not garner much respect from the scientific community. Given the generally low credibility of our field (Levin & O’Donnell, 2000), turning educational research into a nonscientific enterprise is unlikely to improve the situation.”
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Science, Art, and the Predispositions of Educational Researchers
by Tom Barone
“The following comments represent my contribution to the ongoing conversation in the pages of Educational Researcher about the wisdom of legitimating as research certain non-scientific forms of educational inquiry (Eisner, 1997, 1999; Knapp, 1999).”
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Is there any real research supporting the programs and methods used in your schools?
“Research has Shown …” Hoo-boy — When they start hauling out that phrase "research has shown" it’s time to pull on the hip boots. Perhaps the single greatest accomplishment of progressive education is development of that phrase. It might be a good research project to determine if educrats say "Research has shown" even more often than "You are the only one who has ever complained.") The wackiest fads are justified simply by invoking the magic words, "research has shown." It completely stops discussion in its tracks by eliminating any argument. When you hear "research has shown…" how can you know if the claim being made true? Is there any real research supporting the changes being imposed on your school?
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