Poor program implementation constitutes one explanation for null results in trials of educational interventions. For this reason, researchers often collect data about implementation fidelity when conducting such trials. In this article, we document whether and how researchers report and measure program fidelity in recent cluster-randomized trials.…

Within evidence-based education, results from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and meta-analyses of them, are taken as reliable evidence for effectiveness -- they speak to "what works". Extending RCT results requires establishing that study samples and settings are representative of the intended target. Although widely recognised as…

School-based evaluations of interventions are increasingly common in education research. Ideally, the results of these evaluations are used to make evidence-based policy decisions for students. However, it is difficult to make generalizations from these evaluations because the types of schools included in the studies are typically not selected…

Evaluating the impact of complex whole-school interventions (CWSIs) is challenging. However, what evidence there is suggests that school leadership and other elements of whole-school contexts are important for pupils' attainment (Leithwood et al., 2006), suggesting that interventions aimed at changing these have significant potential to improve…

As a systemic approach to improving educational practice through research, "What Works" has come under repeated challenge from alternative approaches, most recently that of improvement science. While "What Works" remains a dominant paradigm for centralized knowledge-building efforts, there is need to understand why this…

Large numbers of qualified students do not apply to and enroll in college. Yet, earning a college degree is one of the primary pathways for economic success and is increasingly required for good jobs and high wages. A number of programs and practices aim to improve college readiness and enrollment, including "Take Stock in Children's®…

This article illustrates the value of large-scale impact evaluations with counterfactual components. It begins by exploring the limitations of small-scale impact studies, which do not allow reliable inference to a wider population or which do not use valid comparison groups. The paper then describes the design features of a recent large-scale…

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year-olds' academic knowledge and skills. Educationalists and public policymakers eagerly await the tri-annual results, with particular interest in whether their country has moved up or slid down the international rankings, as compared to earlier…

Evidence for the Frontline (E4F) is an online brokerage service designed to provide teachers and school leaders with timely access to relevant evidence on supporting young people's learning. It was developed by Sandringham School and the Institute for Effective Education (IEE) at The University of York, with support from the Coalition for Evidence…

School-based improvement programs represent a core strategy in improving education because they can leverage pre-existing social and organizational structures to promote coordinated and comprehensive change across multiple facets of schooling. School-based programs are generally designed to be implemented by intact schools/districts, frequently…

Purpose: The past decade has seen considerable debate about how to best evaluate the efficacy of educational improvement initiatives, and members of the educational leadership research community have entered the debate with great energy. Throughout this debate, the use of randomized experiments has been a particularly contentious subject. This…

In recent years, governments across the world have increased their investments in early childhood education programs (Britto, Yoshikawa, & Boller, 2011; Engle et al., 2011; Myers, 2006; UNESCO, 2006). This investment in preprimary education reflects the proven value of providing early learning opportunities in promoting later educational…

Children from low-income families are at risk of learning outcome difficulties, particularly in literacy. Various studies link poor literacy results with performance later in primary and secondary school, and suggest that poverty, literacy skills and weak instructional methods combine to drastically limit the educational opportunities for many…

Effective instructional materials can be valuable interventions to improve student interest and achievement in science (National Research Council [NRC], 2007); yet, analyses indicate that many science instructional materials and curricula are fragmented, lack coherence, and are not carefully articulated through a sequence of grade levels (AAAS,…