A top-notch team of researchers from your editor’s former employer find “statistically significant” improvements for students taking advantage of SES. But what is the significance of “significance” in this context? And what of the dogs that didn’t bark? What we have here is “the truth,” “and nothing but the truth,” but not quite “the whole truth.” Statistically significant effects are not necessarily educationally significant - and RAND is close to slient on the latter point. The fault here lies less with RAND, than those who will take advantage of the report's incomplete nature and a naïve public - and a Department of Education that has once again politicized education science.   more »