Considerable thought is often put into designing randomized control trials (RCTs). From power analyses and complex sampling designs implemented preintervention to nuanced quasi-experimental models used to estimate treatment effects postintervention, RCT design can be quite complicated. Yet when psychological constructs measured using survey scales…

In paired experiments, participants are grouped into pairs with similar characteristics, and one observation from each pair is randomly assigned to treatment. The resulting treatment and control groups should be well-balanced; however, there may still be small chance imbalances. Building on work for completely randomized experiments, we propose a…

An emerging body of research suggests that incorporating randomization schemes in single-case research designs strengthens study internal validity and data evaluation. The purpose of this study was to test the utility and feasibility of a randomized alternating-treatment design in an investigation that compared the combined effects of vocabulary…

Findings from experimental studies have increasingly been used to inform policy in school settings. Thus far, the populations in many of these studies are typically defined in a cross-sectional context; namely, the populations are defined in the same academic year in which the study took place or the population is defined at a fixed time point.…

Relevance interventions have shown a great potential to foster motivation and achievement (Lazowski & Hulleman, 2016). Yet, further research is warranted to test how such interventions can be successfully implemented in practice. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial in ninth-grade math classrooms to test the effectiveness of a relevance…

As a result of the evidence-based decision-making movement, the number of randomized trials evaluating educational programs and curricula has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. Policy makers and practitioners are encouraged to use the results of these trials to inform their decision making in schools and school districts. At the same…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of MoBeGo, a mobile self-monitoring app, on the initial and sustained academic engagement and disruptive behavior of third- to eighth-grade students with challenging behavior. Student-teacher pairs (N = 57) were randomly assigned to the treatment (MoBeGo) or control (business-as-usual)…

When people are exposed to information that leads them to overestimate the actual amount of genetic difference between racial groups, it can augment their racial biases. However, there is apparently no research that explores if the reverse is possible. Does teaching adolescents scientifically accurate information about genetic variation within and…

Interventions often require multiple decisions to improve outcomes for every student. Whether the decision to implement a practice, tailor an existing protocol, or change approaches, these decisions should be based on individual variables and outcomes via a sequence of treatment. To develop adaptive interventions that have sufficient evidence to…

Educational stakeholders are keen to know the magnitude and importance of different interventions. However, the way evidence is communicated to support understanding of the effectiveness of an intervention is controversial. Typically studies in education have used the standardised mean difference as a measure of the impact of interventions. This…

We report the results of a preregistered, cluster randomized controlled trial of a mathematics learning intervention known as interleaved practice. Whereas most mathematics assignments consist of a block of problems devoted to the same skill or concept, an interleaved assignment is arranged so that no 2 consecutive problems require the same…

An impediment to conducting high-quality quantitative research studies in education is the paucity of valid measures of learning gains. Studies often seek to investigate students' deep, conceptual understanding yet many measures assess only surface, procedural understanding. One reason is that the development of validated measures of conceptual…

Seventh- and 8th-grade students in a within-teacher randomized control study read from visual-syntactic formatted text for 44 min per week over the course of 1 year. On the annual state assessment, we found small statistically significant improvements on the overall English Language Arts scaled score (ES = 0.05, p < 0.05) and the writing…

This study investigates the impact of an informal science outreach programme built around theories of identity formation and self-efficacy on middle school girls' science affinities. A lottery-based, randomised control trial was used to identify programme effects on four science affinity outcomes: science interests, efficacy with science, science…

Classroom observations have long been considered a necessary component of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) evaluations. Yet, research evaluating the utility of observational ratings in ADHD assessment is limited. This study examined the contributions of the Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (BOSS) to ADHD assessment by…