Implementing Quality Research

Practitioners are seeking assistance with implementing quality research. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) recently began publishing Research Brief. This Web-based publication will help educators and policy- makers translate high-quality research into usable decision-making tools. In addition, to support the use of evidence-based practices, ASCD has recently published two books: (1) What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action and (2) Classroom Instruction that Works: Research- Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. In Classroom Instruction that Works, researchers at Mid-continental Research for Education and Learning used a meta-analysis technique to analyze selected research studies to determine the effect of a particular intervention. With this methodology, the effect size — which was also equated to percentiles — deter- mined the increase or decrease in achievement of the experimental group of students who were involved with a specific instructional technique. By identifying specific instructional strategies that have a high effect size, Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock were able to establish categories of strategies with which practitioners can identify. Even though the authors admit that not all instructional strategies will work well in all situations, they have presented useful tools for practitioners to consider when implementing instructional strategies intended to improve student achievement.

■ Identifying similarities and differences

■ Summarizing and note taking

■ Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

■ Homework and practice

■ Nonlinguistic representations

■ Cooperative learning

■ Setting objectives and providing feedback

■ Generating and testing hypotheses

■ Questions, cues, and advance organizers

In What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action, Marzano contends that 35 years of research should not be overlooked in Categories of Effective Instructional Strategies determining guidance on effective schooling. His work synthesizes this research and claims that evidence exists to support three general factors that influence student academic achievement: school-level factors, teacher- level factors, and student-level factors. Marzano identifies a process for implementation of his school reform model, which takes these factors into consideration. He defines steps for schools to identify the elements of the model that are applicable and identifies actions to take and steps to implement those actions and to determine the effects of the actions. What Works in Schools is one way practitioners can think about applying research-based factors to the process of school reform.