No Educator Left Behind: Research-Based Instructional Programs
No Educator Left Behind is a series providing answers from the U.S.
Department of Education to questions about the federal No
Child Left Behind Act and how it will affect educators. If you have
a question about No Child Left Behind, send an e-mail to Ellen
Delisio, and we will submit your question to the Department of Education.
Question:
What defines a "research-based" instructional program?
U.S. Department of Education:
The key characteristics of scientifically based research are common across
all fields, including medicine, biology, and psychology, as well as education.
Scientific research gathers information about significant questions; uses
objective methods that involve reliable and valid observations and measurements;
and meets rigorous standards of peer review. The conclusions of scientific
research can be replicated and generalized.
The bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act helps the Department of Education
direct federal funding to programs that are backed by scientifically based
research. The goal of the new provisions in the law is to create the best
educational opportunities for our nation's children. To ensure that all
children have opportunities to succeed, the law highlights the importance
of using research-based instructional practices that have achieved proven
results in a variety of classrooms across the nation.
Scientifically based instructional methods equip teachers with tools
that help them better reach children, avoid burnout, and improve their
classrooms' culture of learning and achievement.
Instructional practices that are based on scientific evidence bring
the best teaching approaches and programs to children who might fail without
them. Such practices challenge children and interest them in learning,
setting them on the path to success in school and in life.
Characteristics of Scientifically Based Research:
Significant Questions. Scientifically based research begins with a
significant question. In education, a significant question is one that
addresses a core issue related to teaching and learning. An example
of a significant research question in education is, "What are the most
successful approaches for teaching young children to read?"
Reliability and Validity. Scientifically based research uses established
and objective ways of observing and measuring. In other words, the observational
methods and measurements used in scientifically based research have
reliability -- they consistently produce the same results -- and validity
-- they actually measure what they claim to measure.
If a researcher is trying to determine, for example, which type
of instruction best helps children learn the meanings of new words,
the researcher must decide how to measure the children's word learning.
Should the children just be asked whether they know a word? Should
they be able to recognize the correct definition among several choices?
Or should they be able to use the new word correctly in their writing
or speaking? The way the researcher chooses to measure word learning
must be reliable, valid, and able to pass the scrutiny of other scientists
studying word learning.
Reliable Data Interpretation. Scientifically based research requires
that researchers use established and objective ways of making sense
of the information they gather from their observations and measurements.
Conclusions should follow logically from the data and should not be
affected by opinions or biases. Scientists also are expected to try
to find evidence that may contradict their conclusions. An important
feature of scientific research is that it obligates researchers to evaluate
carefully other possible explanations for any conclusions they reach.
Peer Review. High quality research depends on members of a scientific
community working together to interpret and evaluate conclusions. An
important role for members of the scientific community is to serve as
peer reviewers. Peer reviewers are those in the same field who have
the expertise necessary to evaluate the quality of the research. Peer
reviewers examine the reported research prior to its publication in
a professional journal or its presentation at a meeting of professionals.
Peer reviewers may also help the researcher generate alternate explanations
for the study's conclusions, or suggest additional evidence that the
researcher should consider. To allow peer reviewers to conduct a rigorous
review of the research, researchers must make sure that their reports
provide all the information necessary to evaluate the findings of
the research. If peer reviewers find serious flaws in the research
methods or conclusions, they may reject the report. Indeed, journals
that have good reputations for the quality of their research require
peer review and acceptance before publishing new research. Those journals
are called "peer-review journals."
Before publishing research results, peer-review journals ensure
that expert reviewers agree that the research was conducted correctly
and that the conclusions follow logically from the data gathered.
Replication. Scientifically based research is replicable. Reports
of scientific research include enough specific information about the
methods used that other researchers can replicate, or repeat, the research
to verify and extend the conclusions. Scientists can also extend scientifically
based research to determine whether the results can be applied to individuals
other than those in the study, or whether they hold true under different
conditions (i.e. in smaller or larger instructional groups). The results
from a single research study are rarely decisive. Rather, evidence from
each study builds on prior evidence, and scientifically based knowledge
emerges from a body of accumulated evidence.
No Educator Left Behind: Research-Based Instructional Programs
