There are a growing number of large-scale educational randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Considering their expense, it is important to reflect on the effectiveness of this approach. We assessed the magnitude and precision of effects found in those large-scale RCTs commissioned by the UK-based Education Endowment Foundation and the U.S.-based…

Widening participation (WP) in higher education (HE) is an increasingly important policy issue, with interventions to increase participation from minority ethnic, low-income and other under-represented groups undertaken in HE sectors in many countries. In the UK there is a large amount of WP activity but a lack of robust evidence of its…

Background: The link between disorders of attachment and psychopathology is well documented. Consequently, a person's attachment style has a profound effect on his or her development and psychological well-being. At-risk populations such as adopted children are more prone to developing pervasive patterns of attachment, given the maternal…

The objective of this meta-analysis is to rigorously assess the participant effects of private school vouchers, or in other words, to estimate the average academic impacts that the offer (or use) of a voucher has on a student. This review adds to the literature by being the first to systematically review all Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) in an…

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…

Improving academic, behavioural, and social outcomes of students through empirical research has been a firm commitment among researchers, policy-makers, and other professionals in education across Europe and the United States (U.S.). To assist in building scientific evidences, executive bodies such as the European Commission and the Institute for…

Individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often struggle to obtain competitive employment after sustaining a TBI, commonly as a result of the post-injury difficulties they exhibit (Andelic, Stevens, Sigurdardottir, Arango-Lasprilla, & Roe, 2009; Mansfield et al., 2015). The currently reported unemployment rate for people with TBI is…

Based on a one-year longitudinal experimental study with 3,782 kindergarten school children across 15 countries, this article examines the association between prayer and happiness. Results show that the post-test scores on the faces scale were higher for the participant group who had taken the prayer lessons vis-à-vis the comparison group.…

Understanding the effects of class size reduction (CSR) has been an enduring issue in education. For the past 3 decades, Project STAR has stimulated research and policy discussions regarding the effects of CSR on a variety of outcomes. Schanzenbach (2007) reviewed STAR studies and concluded that small classes improved student academic outcomes.…

Physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits in youth; however, these benefits could extend further than health, into education. Our aim was to systematically review and combine in meta-analyses evidence concerning the association between physical activity and the dimensions of school engagement, including behavior (e.g.,…

The current study aimed at investigating how mobile seamless technology can be used to enhance the pragmatic competence of learners of Chinese as a second language (CSL). 34 overseas CSL learners participated in this study. They were randomly assigned into two groups: the classroom group, executing language tasks in fake contexts in a traditional…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of classroom-based physical activity interventions that integrate academic content and assess the effectiveness of the interventions on physical activity, learning, facilitators of learning, and health outcomes. Method: Six electronic databases (ERIC, PubMed, Google Scholar,…

We surveyed researchers in the health and exercise sciences to explore different areas and magnitudes of bias in researchers' decision making. Participants were presented with scenarios (testing a central hypothesis with p = 0.06 or p = 0.04) in a random order and surveyed about what they would do in each scenario. Participants showed significant…

Findings from three years of a longitudinal randomized control trial involving a national U.S. sample of Algebra 1 teachers and students are reported. The study examines the effects of a connected classroom technology (CCT) professional development and classroom intervention on student achievement when compared to classroom instruction with…

Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases its annual list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field. The 20 studies selected have given new insight into the underlying biology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and potential risk factors, tested approaches for improving early screening…