It is a healthy exercise to debate the merits of using effect-size benchmarks to interpret research findings. However, these debates obscure a more central insight that emerges from empirical distributions of effect-size estimates in the literature: Efforts to improve education often fail to move the needle. I find that 36% of effect sizes from…

Noncompliance to treatment assignment is widespread in randomized trials and presents challenges in causal inference. In the presence of noncompliance, the most commonly estimated effect of treatment assignment, also known as the intent-to-treat (ITT) effect, is biased. Of interest in this setting is the complier average causal effect (CACE), the…

This article provides evidence about predictive relationships between features of community college interventions and their impacts on student progress. This evidence is based on analyses of student-level data from large-scale randomized trials of 39 (mostly) community college interventions. Specifically, the evidence consistently indicates that…

This article provides evidence about predictive relationships between features of community college interventions and their impacts on student progress. This evidence is based on analyses of student-level data from large-scale randomized trials of 39 (mostly) community college interventions. Specifically, the evidence consistently indicates that…

The randomized trial of the Making Socially Accepting Inclusive Classrooms (MOSAIC) program included intensive coaching from research staff to support teachers' implementation of MOSAIC strategies and resulted in positive student outcomes (Mikami et al., J. Clin. Child Adolesc. Psychol. 51(6):1039-1052, 2022). However, these intensive procedures…

This article offers a case example of how experimental evaluation methods can be coupled with principles of design-based implementation research (DBIR), improvement science (IS), and rapid-cycle evaluation (RCE) methods to provide relatively quick, low-cost, credible assessments of strategies designed to improve programs, policies, or practices.…

This study investigates the impact of Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)-funded trials on pupils eligible for free school meals. Although similar analysis is conducted during each individual evaluation, this report conducts a meta-analysis using data from 88 trials and over half a million pupils to reach conclusions. The report contributes to…

Perfectionism has adverse impacts on mental health and academic outcomes. We evaluated a 5-lesson classroom intervention for young adolescents delivered by teachers for impact on perfectionism, well-being, self-compassion, academic motivation and negative affect, at post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Classes (N = 636 students, M[subscript…

In this study, we used a randomized control trial (N = 84) to evaluate the effects of a classroom-based motivational interviewing intervention on undergraduate psychology students' test performance. Results indicated that students in the treatment group (n = 38) demonstrated significant increases in their exam grades following the intervention (d…

This paper reviews research on the design and effectiveness of preschools in the United States. Three randomized controlled trials that enrolled roughly 350 total children in demonstration studies during the 1960s and 1970s shape much of the current discussion of preschool. We examine what these studies and more recent ones based on random…

Principals are the second-largest school-based contributor to K-12 students' academic progress. However, there is little research evaluating whether efforts to develop principals' skills improve school effectiveness. We conducted randomized controlled trial studies of the impacts of a professional development program called the Executive…

Professional development for teachers is regarded as one of the principal pathways through which we can understand and cultivate effective teaching and improve student outcomes. A critical component of studies that seek to improve teaching through professional development is the detailed assessment of the intermediate teacher development processes…

Randomized controlled trials in lower-income countries have demonstrated ways to increase learning, in specific settings. This study uses a large-scale, nationwide RCT in Ghana to show the external validity of four school-based interventions inspired by other RCTs. Even though the government implemented the programs within existing systems,…

Although there is increasing acceptance that personalization improves learning outcomes, there is still limited experimental evidence supporting this claim. The aim of this study was to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of an adaptive recommendation system for Singapore primary and secondary education. The system leverages users trace data…

This paper examines the insistent claims by advocates of evidence-based teaching that it is a rigorous scientific approach. The paper questions the view that randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses are the only truly scientific methods in educational research. It suggests these claims are often based on a rhetorical appeal which relies on…