Evidence-based education

Evidence-based education is educational practice based on the results of well-designed scientific studies indicating which education methods work best. The evidence-based education movement has its roots in the larger movement towards evidence-based practices.[1]

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Evidence-based practices

Organizations and Programs

The following organizations conduct and evaluate research on educational programs: Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE), the Education Endowment Foundation, What Works Clearinghouse, and The Coalition For Evidence-Based Policy. They assess and rank the effectiveness of educational programs.

Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE)

The Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE) is a free website created by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) and is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. [2] It gives educators and researchers reviews about the strength of the evidence supporting a variety of English programs available for students in grades K–12. The reviews cover programs in areas such as Mathematics, Reading, Writing, Science, Comprehensive school reform, and Early childhood Education; and includes such topics as effectiveness of technology and struggling readers.

BEE selects reviews that meet consistent scientific standards and relate to programs that are available to educators. [3]

Educational programs in the reviews are rated according to the overall strength of the evidence supporting their effects on students as determined by the combination the quality of the research design and their effect size. The BEE website contains an explanation of their interpretation of effect size and how it might be viewed as a percentile score. It uses the following categories of ratings:

  • Strong evidence of effectiveness
  • Moderate evidence of effectiveness
  • Limited evidence of effectiveness: Strong evidence of modest effects
  • Limited evidence of effectiveness: Weak evidence with notable effect
  • No qualifying studies

Reading programs

In 2019, BEE released a review of research on 61 studies of 48 different programs for struggling readers in elementary schools. [4] The vast majority were done in the USA, the programs are replicable, and the studies, done between 1990 and 2018, had a minimum duration of 12 weeks. Many of the programs used phonics-based teaching and/or one or more of the following: cooperative learning, technology-supported adaptive instruction (see Educational technology), metacognitive skills, phonemic awareness, word reading, fluency, vocabulary, multisensory learning, spelling, guided reading, reading comprehension, word analysis, structured curriculum, and balanced literacy (non-phonetic approach). Significantly, table 5 (pg. 88) shows the mean weighted effect sizes of the programs by the manner in which they were conducted (i.e. by school, by classroom, by technology-supported adaptive instruction, by one-to-small-group tutoring, and by one-to-one tutoring). [5] Table 8 (pg. 91) lists the 22 programs meeting ESSA standards for strong and moderate ratings, and their effect size.

The review concludes that a) outcomes were positive for one-to-one tutoring, b) outcomes were positive but not as large for one-to-small group tutoring, c) there were no differences in outcomes between teachers and teaching assistants as tutors, d) technology-supported adaptive instruction did not have positive outcomes, e) whole-class approaches (mostly cooperative learning) and whole-school approaches incorporating tutoring obtained outcomes for struggling readers as large as those found for one- to-one tutoring, and benefitted many more students, and f) approaches mixing classroom and school improvements, with tutoring for the most at-risk students, have the greatest potential for the largest numbers of struggling readers.

Education Endowment Foundation

The Education Endowment Foundation was established in 2011 by The Sutton Trust, as a lead charity in partnership with Impetus Trust, together being the government-designated What Works Centre for UK Education. [6] It offers an online, downloadable Teaching & Learning Toolkit evaluating and describing a variety of educational interventions according to cost, evidence and impact. [7] As an example, it evaluates and describes a 2018 Phonics reading program with low cost, extensive evidence and moderate impact. [8]

What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)

What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)[9] evaluates numerous educational programs, in twelve categories, by the quality and quantity of the evidence, and the effectiveness. It is operated by the federal National Center for Education Evaluation, and Regional Assistance (NCEE), part of Institute of Education Sciences (IES [10] The site allows you to use filters to find the type of programs that interests you, campare them, and view information on grades, program type, delivery method (individual, small group, or whole class), and specific outcomes. For example, the site has results on 231 literacy programs, however when you filter by grades one and two, general vs. inclusion class type, whole class and small group, and public schools only, it gives results on four programs. [11]

The Coalition For Evidence-Based Policy

The Coalition For Evidence-Based Policy, which is a non-partisan, non-profit organization advocating the use of well-conducted randomized controlled trials in policy, has recognized three educational programs as "Top Tier". Programs classified as "Top Tier" must have been proven to be effective in randomized controlled trials that were well designed and implemented.[12]

ProgramIntervention DescriptionSample sizeSample characteristicsOutcomesCosts
Career Academies The intervention happens in learning communities consisting of 150–200 students. It combines academic and technical curricula in partnership with local employers, typically with a specific career theme. 1 764 students in 9 high schools 86% of the students in the study sample were Hispanic or African-American and the high schools were in high poverty urban areas. 11% increase in average annual earnings ($2,460 per year), sustained over the eight years after scheduled high school graduation. The effect was concentrated among men (who experienced a 17% earnings increase), and was not statistically significant for women. Approximately $2,300 per student for a three-year Career Academy, or $3,000 per student for a four-year Career Academy.
Success For All A school wide reading program to grades K–2 with emphasis on early detection and prevention of reading problems. Key program elements include daily 90-minute reading classes where students are grouped by performance, not age and in addition daily one-on-one tutoring to students with learning problems. First year includes curriculum that focuses on language development and phonemic awareness and second year learning activities that happen in teams or pairs. 41 schools with a total student population of 2,694 56% African-American, 10% Hispanic of whom 72% of students were eligible for federally subsidized lunches. Schools that were allocated to the program increased their average reading achievement by 25–30% of a grade-level three years after random assignment. Approximately $220,000 per school (K–5) or $510 per student, over the full three-year period.*
H&R Block College Financial Aid Application Assistance Offering personal assistance in completing a college financial aid application. Approximately 1045 students 57% female, 55% white, 39% African American who had family income was below average (23,000 $) and average age was 17.7. A sizable increase in college attendance and persistence over the 3½–4 years following the intervention, 29% greater likelihood of attending college for two consecutive years. Approximately $90 per person to deliver the intervention, in 2012 dollars. $375 per person in federal need-based (“Pell”) grants for college.

See also

References
  1. Trinder, L. and Reynolds, S. (eds) (2000) Evidence-Based Practice: A critical appraisal, Oxford, Blackwell Science.
  2. "Best evidence encyclopedia".
  3. "About Best evidence".
  4. "A Quantitative Synthesis of Research on Programs for Struggling Readers in Elementary Schools, Best Evidence Encyclopedia, April 24, 2019" (PDF).
  5. "How Methodological Features Affect Effect Sizes in Education, Best Evidence Encyclopedia, September 2015" (PDF).
  6. "Education Endowment Foundation, UK".
  7. "Teaching & Learning Toolkit, EEF, UK" (PDF).
  8. "Phonics program evaluation, EEF, UK, 2018-08-30".
  9. "What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences".
  10. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/findwhatworks.aspx
  11. "literacy programs with filters".
  12. http://toptierevidence.org/
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