The U.S. Department of Education and the No Child Left Behind initiative are now soon to offer us all a web-based “What Works Clearinghouse?”. The idea is to get research methodologists together to identify standards for quality research (I guess the peer review process has been deemed inadequate) and to use the standards developed (e.g., random assignment of subjects) to identify quality research to answer specific questions teachers might have. A draft of the standards is available at the web site.
Hmmm … I used to think that organizations like the American Educational Research Association had this as their core mission. I have spent a good part of my professional career attempting to distill research for nonresearchers. I am of the opinion that some of the most essential questions do not have simple answers. The question of What Works is often determined by the more essential questions of what are we trying to accomplish.
Still — if some group feels there are some obvious processes that have been overlooked in attempting to specify “what works” I guess I am willing to read what they have to say.
