Program evaluation is but a subset of research in k-12 education. Across the whole field there is a nagging sense of irrelevance to what's happening with students, in classrooms, across the system overall, the growing market for school improvement, or legislation regulation and policy.

The first real requirement to employ research on behalf of day-to-day decisions was No Child Left Behind's requirement that federal funds be used only on purchases grounded in Scientifically Based Research. The idea of irrelevance is stimulated by the research communities lack of capacity to assist much in this function.

The state of the art in education research is not on a par with say, nuclear physics. In most cases it hasn't proceeded too far beyond syllogistic argument based on anecdotal evidence. Its quantitative techniques are crude.  Industry efforts to sell school improvement are the motive force behind advances in the art's techniques and its increases in funding.  It would be a gross strategic error if the industry did not use the opportunity to make itself an important player in a field that will - without doubt - blossom in the next decade and shape the iundustry's future for years to come.

The voucher debate noted in the article is an example of how today's debates in education research too often resemble a wild clash of tribal shamans wielding magic talismans around an ancient campfire instead of the rational presentation of evidence to a finder of fact, followed by cross-examination, in the calm of a 21st century courtroom. For this reason alone, the school improvement industry should neither hestitate to join the conversation nor feel itself unqualified to participate in discussion.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Education Department made big news last July when it released a long-awaited study that compared the test scores of children in more than 7,500 public and private schools. With most other things being equal, public school students often do better and sometimes a lot better than private-schoolers, the research found.

But four days later, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings stood in the expansive hearing room of the House Education Committee to unveil a $100 million proposal to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to send public school students to private schools.

Spellings called the study irrelevant, saying it was small and flawed. Other advocates of vouchers, such as Harvard University researcher Paul Peterson, agreed. Advocates of public schools, including teachers unions, say the Bush administration chose to ignore a study that didn't support its agenda.

In the end, it was a pretty good metaphor for the state of educational research: More than five years after President Bush's No Child Left Behind law told educators to rely on "scientifically based" methods, the science produced is often inconclusive, politically charged or less than useful for classroom teachers. And when it is useful, it often is misused or ignored altogether.


As the 88th annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) takes place this week in Chicago, critics say the USA's huge community of education researchers — 14,000 are attending — often studies topics that do little to help schools solve practical problems such as how to train teachers, how to raise skills, how to lower dropout rates and whether smaller classes really make a difference.

Greg Toppo, USA TODAY, April 11.