“Research tells us…”
“What the literature says is…”
You’ll often hear people in education use some version of those statements when they are explaining why they are advocating for a certain approach to teaching or a certain structure for a school. Over the past 15 years or so, there’s been increasing emphasis on using “research-based” practices in schools, and most federal funding now requires as a precondition the use of strategies and programs that have met the bar set by the “What Works Clearinghouse”.
In general, I think this focus on relying on educational research is a good thing, moving from mainly just hunches to basing decisions about teaching and learning on what tested evidence shows. It’s one of the reasons we often partner with research institutions—like Georgia State University and Empirical Education, for example—and make our school a site for research to contribute to the greater learning of the education profession.
However, I’ve often seen specious practices couched in the protective armor of “but the research supports this!” when maybe the research itself was also specious. And, of course, teachers draw upon lots of research and evidence every day—from the years they’ve spent teaching young people in their classrooms. It may not be a “controlled-research trial” but I’d be willing to bet we could safely rely on what most veteran teachers say to be true about teaching.
I think schools are at their best when they honor and listen to the wisdom and experience of their teachers and build on that learning with what can be drawn from high-quality research studies about teaching and learning, especially those that can be culled down to brief, actionable takeaways. In addition to the WWC, GSU, and Empirical linked above, here are a few more sources I think meet those criteria. If you know of others, please share them!