Research Credibility

Question: Can teachers trust research findings used to support practices?

Answer/Quote: “The research on effective teaching practices has singled out and emphasized particular techniques as being effective means of improving test results. The boosterism surrounding direct instructional methods such as teaching the whole class at one time, teacher directed activities, and continual monitoring of student work, presses teachers toward these practices. What the literature has done is to certify direct instruction as the single best way of teaching. But uncritical cheerleading for this brand of teaching stamps whole group instruction, lecturing, recitation, and seatwork as effective, going far beyond what the research findings promise or even suggest.” 

Comment: I think the best reason to use research findings in multiple studies that suggest similar findings. For example, the use of audience in producing effective writing is supported in frequent studies and the idea of considering audience in writing provides confidence in using the practice. RayS.

Title: “Unanticipated Consequences of Applying Research to Practice.” From Larry Cuban, Harvard Educational Review, 1984, 54:2, 1488-149. Reading Teacher (November 1987), 205.