Reforming the Evidence in Evidence-Based Practice: We Need Research Criteria That Require Greater Improvement

• In Event: Data and Research Use for Continuous School Improvement

Abstract

There is a replicability crisis in published research across the disciplines wherein findings either cannot be replicated or don’t lead to improvements in practice—including much of the most rigorous evidence of effective practices published in top journals in education. If a high percentage of published evidence is not likely to replicate, how can practitioners determine which evidence-based practice is likely to replicate/result in improvements in their schools? This paper will demonstrate that a key problem is research criteria that do not require sufficient improvement, and present an alternative, non-technical method of how leaders can critically examine research findings to determine whether they are likely to produce desired improvements in their schools. Implications for applied research methodology will be explored.

Author

• Stanley Pogrow, San Francisco State University