The randomized control trial (RCT) is the primary experimental design in education research due to its strong internal validity for causal inference. However, in situations where RCTs are not feasible or ethical, quasi-experiments are alternatives to establish causal inference. This paper serves as an introduction to several quasi-experimental…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) uses the term "baseline equivalence" when determining if the intervention group (those that received the intervention of interest) and the comparison group (those that did not receive the intervention) had characteristics that were similar enough ("equivalent") at the start of the study (at…

Randomized control trials are considered the gold standard for conducting research and estimating causal effects; however, educational research rarely lends itself to experimental design and true randomization. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in finding new approaches to estimate causal effects in nonrandomized studies in…

Experimental designs that randomly assign entire clusters of individuals (e.g., schools and classrooms) to treatments are frequently advocated as a way of guarding against contamination of the estimated average causal effect of treatment. However, in the absence of contamination, experimental designs that randomly assign intact clusters to…

This report summarizes the complex research literature on quantitative methods for assessing how impacts of educational interventions on instructional practices and student learning differ across students, educators, and schools. It also provides technical guidance about the use and interpretation of these methods. The research topics addressed…

New technologies have enabled students to become active participants in computational simulations of dynamic and complex systems (called Participatory Simulations), providing a "first-person"perspective on complex systems. However, most existing Participatory Simulations have targeted older children, teens, and adults assuming that such concepts…

This article discusses the use of propensity scoring in experimental program evaluations to estimate impacts for subgroups defined by program features and participants' program experiences. The authors discuss estimation issues and provide specification tests. They also discuss the use of an overlooked data collection design--obtaining predictions…