Reforming Educational Policy with Applie

Reforming Educational Policy with Applied Social Research David Cohen and Michael Garet

Weak link between individual studies and individual decisions But educational research shapes the story that it told about how society works

Much educational research irrelevant: answers researchers’ questions rather than policy makers’ and done on professors’ timeframes. Local anecdotal evidence relevant but not valid: inconsistent, self-serving. 

“the very core of what is to be explained often appears to change in the course of the research"

People think social policies are motivated by all kinds of reasons, which may be contradictory. 

1966 Coleman report (sociologist) sparked contentious debate between sociologists (complex systems) and economists (single factor) Then others argued against the construct entirely. Now questions about norm-referenced general-intelligence tests. But for criterion-referenced tests, it was necessary to define what was to be learned in school. 

How can we structure research so that it has a cumulative effect rather than accelerating the pace of fads?

We accept a structure of research primarily funded by the state because we believe that political commitments are separate from objective determinations of fact. 

“There is plenty of evidence that educational research affects policy, but generally this seems to happen in odd and unexpected ways."

Conclusion: Educational research is itself a social action program.