Given decision-makers often prioritize causal research that identifies the impact of treatments on the people they serve, a key question in education research is, "Does it work?". Today, however, researchers are paying increasing attention to successive questions that are equally important from a practical standpoint--not only does it…

Interest in trauma-informed approaches in schools is high throughout the US, UK, Australia, Canada and other countries, but the empirical evidence on whole-school responses to trauma is limited. This conceptual and theoretical review explores relevant literature; outlines existing conceptual models for trauma-informed organisations, including…

This article aims to review and comment on the articles in this Special Issue and suggest directions for Singaporean evaluators to consider in the future. Based on the review, we found education evaluators in Singapore are familiar with up-to-date evaluation theories and approaches and successfully apply them. We also found that a substantial…

Over the last decade, the idea of societal impact resulting from publicly funded research has changed from being a relatively fringe concern related to high-technology entrepreneurship and spin-off companies to becoming an increasingly important public policy concern. This has stimulated academic science policy research to investigate the impact…

This scoping review examines the landscape of educational evaluation research in Asia over the past decade, uncovering the methodologies, themes, and unique regional challenges within this domain. By delving into 62 articles from evaluation-centric journals, the study reveals a predominant focus on learning, teaching, and assessment, highlighting…

Inconsistent reporting of critical facets of classroom interventions and their related impact evaluations hinders the field's ability to describe and synthesize the existing evidence base. In this essay, we present a set of reporting guidelines intended to steer authors of classroom intervention studies toward providing more systematic reporting…

The purpose of this study was to assess and describe the status of program evaluation within the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) sites. The National Science Foundation's REU program supports thousands of undergraduates annually in hands-on, immersive research experiences under the mentorship of…

Many teacher education researchers have expressed concerns about the lack of rigorous impact evaluations of teacher preparation practices. I summarize these various concerns as they relate to issues of internal validity, measurement, and external validity. I then assess the prevalence of these issues by reviewing 166 impact evaluations of teacher…

Advances in the field of Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC) are catalysing an important paradigm shift in the understanding of childhood trauma throughout the life course. While there is little dispute regarding the unique role of ECEC practitioners in providing critical support to children who experience trauma, international provisions…

Clearinghouses set standards of scientific quality to vet existing research to determine how "evidence-based" an intervention is. This paper examines 12 educational clearinghouses to describe their effectiveness criteria, to estimate how consistently[underlined] they rate the same program, and to probe why their judgments differ. All the…

Systematic reviews of single-case experimental research (SCER) in special education often use the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards to assess the methodological rigor of studies within a given literature base. While significant changes were made between the two most recent versions of the WWC standards, no research to date has evaluated the…

Child Trends contracted with the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware, Minnesota's Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs. The evaluation includes several legislatively mandated research activities designed to assess the…

The Global Research Agenda for Children with Disabilities (the Research Agenda) is a strategic framework that identifies priority research areas -- defined through a global research prioritization exercise -- to close critical evidence gaps, inform inclusive policies and programmes, and guide effective investments that support children with…

This paper seeks to raise awareness among educational researchers and practitioners of some significant weaknesses and internal contradictions of randomised control trials (RCTs). Although critiques throughout the years from education scholars have pointed to the detrimental effects of this experimental approach on education practice and values,…

Lottery-based identification strategies offer potential for generating the next generation of evidence on U.S. early education programs. The authors' collaborative network of five research teams applying this design in early education settings and methods experts has identified six challenges that need to be carefully considered in this next…