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Perspectives on Evidence-Based Research in Education—What Works? Issues in Synthesizing Educational Program Evaluations

Director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, 200 W. Towsontown Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21204; rslavin{at}jhu.edu. He is also director of the Institute for Effective Education at the University of York, in York, United Kingdom. His research focuses on comprehensive school reform, cooperative learning, research review, and evidence-based reform.

Syntheses of research on educational programs have taken on increasing policy importance. Procedures for performing such syntheses must therefore produce reliable, unbiased, and meaningful information on the strength of evidence behind each program. Because evaluations of any given program are few in number, syntheses of program evaluations must focus on minimizing bias in reviews of each study. This article discusses key issues in the conduct of program evaluation syntheses: requirements for research design, sample size, adjustments for pretest differences, duration, and use of unbiased outcome measures. It also discusses the need to balance factors such as research designs, effect sizes, and numbers of studies in rating the overall strength of evidence supporting each program.

Key Words: evidence-based reform • meta-analysis • research review • What Works Clearinghouse

Educational Researcher, Vol. 37, No. 1, 5-14 (2008)
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X08314117


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