|
|
A central principle of
the
No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001
is
that federal funds should support educational activities that
are backed by "scientifically-based
research."
However, educational practices that
have been proven effective in research’s “gold standard” for
establishing what works are
rare or, in most areas, nonexistent. As is well recognized by federal,
state, and local education officials, this dearth of research-proven
practices is a major obstacle
to improving education.
Don't you think our teachers and children deserve more?
(NOTE: The POWER4KIDS study is
only the second "gold standard" research project ever conduct
in our nation's classrooms. It is a large-scale, randomized, controlled,
longitudinal, field trial.)
WE HAVE A PROBLEM:
The United States has made almost no progress in raising
K-12 educational achievement over the past 30 years, despite major increases
in education spending.
Education is a field with many good intentions, and many innovative ideas
and practices. But it is also a field in which practices – such
as ability grouping, whole language instruction, new math, and the self-esteem
movement – often go in or out of fashion over time, with little
regard to rigorous evidence. As a result, for the past 30 years the
United States has made almost no progress in raising K-12 educational
achievement
according to the respected National Assessment of Educational Progress,
despite a 90% increase in real public spending per student. Our
nation’s
extraordinary inability to raise educational achievement stands in stark
contrast to our remarkable progress in improving human health over the
same time period – progress which, as discussed below, is largely
the result of medical practice guided by rigorous scientific evidence.
WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY:
Scientifically-based research, particularly randomized
trials, offers a key to bringing sustained progress – for the first
time – to American education.
Randomized trials have identified few educational practices that are
highly effective. Although rare, their very existence suggests that a
major federal effort to build the knowledge base of these proven practices,
and spur their widespread use, could fundamentally improve the effectiveness
of American education. Illustrative examples include:
~One-on-one tutoring by qualified tutors for at-risk readers in early
elementary school (the average tutored student reads more proficiently
than approximately 75% of the untutored students in the control group).
~Instruction for early readers in phonemic awareness and phonics,
and guided oral reading with feedback (the average student in these interventions
reads more proficiently than approximately 70% of students in the control
group).
~High-quality preschool for low-income children (increases percentage
with high school diploma by 31% compared to controls, reduces percentage
on welfare by 26% and percentage of hard-core criminals by 80%). Further
research is needed on how to translate these findings into broadly replicable
programs.
~Life-Skills Training for junior high students (low-cost, replicable
program reduces serious levels of substance abuse by 30-50% by the end
of high school, compared to controls).
THIS PAGE IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
|
|
"Human
history becomes more and more a race between education
and catastrophe." ~H.G.Wells |
| |
|
|
|
|
"The U. S. Department of Education's current
research funding is far too low to build the needed knowledge base of
research-proven practices.
Specifically, the D.O.E. will only
spend about $80 million
annually in Ed. research. This is far to little to provide our nation's
educators with evidence-based facts of what works best, for
which kids and under which conditions.
"...By
way of comparison, the Department of Health and Human Services gives
$33 billion for health research
(48% of its total funding of the NIH,
FDA, and Centers for Disease Control).
"...This year alone we
will spend more than 170 times as much on medical research as we are
on education research. Should there be any
doubt why we have so little progress in education and so much progress
in the
biomedical arena?
"...It is time to objectively discern if
practices and interventions are or are not effective in the classrooms
and, ultimately,
in student achievement.
"...By virtue of many inequities in
education experienced by millions of students,
coupled with the associated spending of trillions of
dollars over the last decade, it is important to target serious capital
expenditures
toward gold
standard research in:
1) foundational skills instruction
2) intervention
effectivenes
3) content/subject instruction and
practices
4) assessments
5) professional development
6) school management
7) governance
"...We can do this if we unite, and commit a
portion of our education budget to "gold standard" science in education."
-- Cinthia C. Haan
|
|
|
|
Sponsored
Website
"We believe
education is a national priority and a local responsibility; that
Washington should be giving our schools help, not giving them orders."
President George
W. Bush
|
|
