One of the goals of PEER is to support the use of evidence by education practitioners like teachers and administrators to guide practices and policies that impact young children. What is meant by evidence? Evidence includes the results of analyses of quantitative, qualitative, or observational data. Evidence sheds light on important topics ranging from understanding the skills of individual children, to assessing the effectiveness of instructional strategies, to highlighting the impact of local or federal education policies. Skilled education practitioners use evidence in conjunction with professional judgement to inform decisions that impact children.
While concepts such as “evidence-based practices” are becoming more commonplace in the field of education, it is worthwhile to take a step back and consider why evidence is important in the process of helping children succeed in school. This article points to four reasons why the use of evidence is essential to improving children’s educational outcomes.
1. Humans are bad at being objective. One fundamental lesson from psychology is that humans, when left to their own senses, are not very good at being objective. A great deal of research shows that humans possess a long list of cognitive biases, many of which act to serve our preexisting beliefs rather than to help us determine what is true. Everyone is vulnerable to cognitive biases: not only teachers and administrators, but also researchers. One of the best methods we have to overcome these biases is the use of systematic data collection methods and the evidence that flows from them. While there certainly is a place for personal observations in terms of identifying what helps children succeed, we also need more objective evidence to guard against the biases inherent in such observations.
2. Evidence helps us understand and address problems. In order to address educational problems like achievement gaps, skill underperformance, and behavior problems, it is often important to understand the nature of these problems and what contributes to them. Is a child’s reading skill lower than expected due to attentional problems, or to low instructional quality, or to English not being his/her primary language, or to a combination of factors? Having an accurate understanding of educational problems will help make interventions more targeted, efficient, and effective.
3. Evidence helps us understand what works and for whom. Most would agree that we should strive to implement the best education policies, instructional practices, and learning environments for supporting children’s educational outcomes. But, how will we know what is best? By generating evidence around whether, how, and for whom practices have their intended effects, we can identify the approaches that are most effective at impacting children. When using a strong research design, evidence concerning effectiveness not only can provide valuable information about what specific approaches are linked with positive child outcomes, but also what approaches cause these outcomes.
4. Evidence helps us learn how to improve. Sometimes people are wary of data and evidence, particularly when it is used to hold individuals accountable through evaluating their performance. However, evidence serves other critical roles beyond accountability, such as guiding us in how we can work together to improve upon practices and policies. To borrow an analogy from our StriveTogether partners, data used in this way is akin to a flashlight as opposed to a hammer. By allowing practitioners room to be curious about the effectiveness of their practice and to modify practice based on actionable evidence, programs can improve continuously and maximize their impact on children.