Scientific Evidence and Education Policy

1. Scientific Evidence and Education Policy Lynn Okagaki University of Delaware

2. One striking fact is that the complex world of education - unlike defense, health care, or industrial production - does not rest on a strong research base. In no other field are personal experience and ideology so frequently relied on to make policy choices, and in no other field is the research base so inadequate and little used. National research council (1999)

3. January 8, 2002

4. The phrase pops up over and over, mantra-like, in the new federal education law: “scientifically based research.” Those words, or an approximation, appear more than 100 times in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act…. Reflected in that repetition is a desire by Congress and the Bush administration to base school improvement efforts less on intuition and experience and more on research-based evidence. Olson & Viadero, 2002

5. Practice to be grounded in Scientifically based research • Strategies for comprehensive school reform • Technical assistance to schools • Professional development in schools • Reading instruction • Curriculum • Distance learning programs • State reform activities

6. The tension between Research and policy

7. Even start family literacy program Even Start provides “grants to support local family literacy projects that integrate early childhood education, adult literacy, parenting education, and interactive parent and child literacy activities for low-income families.” U.S. Department of Education

8. Even start family literacy program • Based on early childhood research • 3 national evaluations show no impact on child outcomes • Program is now winding down

9. Reading first “To provide assistance to State educational agencies and local educational agencies in establishing reading programs for students in kindergarten through grade 3 that are based on scientifically based reading research, to ensure that every student can read at grade level or above not later than the end of grade 3.” No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

10. Reading first • Based on scientific research • IES conducts rigorous national evaluation

11. Reading first evaluation • Positive impact on amount of instructional time spent on the 5 essential components of reading instruction • Positive impact on school-wide practices promoted by RF (PD, reading coaches, amount of reading instruction, supports for struggling readers) • Positive impact on decoding in first graders • No effect on reading comprehension • End of program

12. Tennessee star evaluation • Children and teachers randomly assigned to small or regular-sized classes with or without aides • Effect of small class compared to regular-sized class = .25 on standardized achievement tests at the end of first grade

13. POLICYMAKERS AND RESEARCH

14. The fact is that there has not been enough value placed on the need for education research as a means to drive good policy. The reasons are simple enough: sometimes good research tells us things we don’t want to hear and good research is expensive and time-consuming—attributes which don’t always conform to the reality of Washington budgetary priorities and political expediency. Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE), 2000

15. What’s limiting the use of research in education policy? • We don’t have a good track record – we have to be more careful in our claims

16. What’s limiting the use of research in education policy? • We don’t have a good track record – we have to be more careful in our claims • We need to be more precise in our logic models – what are the active ingredients of our interventions

17. Tennessee CALIFORNIA • Small class = 20 students or less • Large class = 29 students • Teachers with emergency credentials • Not enough classrooms • Small class = 13 to 17 students • Large class = 22 to 26 students • Certified teachers • Regular classrooms

18. What’s limiting the use of research in education policy? • We don’t have a good track record – we have to be more careful in our claims • We need to be more precise in our logic models – what are the active ingredients of our interventions • We still don’t have a lot of evidence to support education policy and practice

19. What’s limiting the use of research in education policy? • We don’t have a good track record – we have to be more careful in our claims • We need to be more precise in our logic models – what are the active ingredients of our interventions? • We still don’t have a lot of evidence to support education policy and practice • We have to learn how to communicate to policymakers

20. Big ships turn slowly