Although evidence-based practices can enhance educational outcomes, a persistent gap exists between research and practice. Advancing the understanding and use of implementation science among educational researchers has potential to close this gap. This study uses person-centered approaches to identify profiles of educational researchers (N = 140)…

Replication studies in education are relatively rare. Of the few which are conducted, many are conceptual rather than direct replications. With so few replication studies, and many of those that are attempted producing null results, the scientific status of the evidence base for educational policy and practice is in question. Replicating Makel and…

In the "what works" agenda, the case for replication studies in education has strong proponents and supporting arguments. This paper outlines some of their key claims and argues that replication studies, whilst potentially making an important contribution to the "what works" and evidence-based agenda, and education more widely,…

This paper discusses, compares, and contrasts 4 different models for bringing evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) into practice and into practical reasoning. I look at what questions the models can and cannot answer, what role they accord to RCT evidence, and what their possible attraction for practitioners might be. The models are…

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…

EBP -- evidence-based policy and practice -- has generated intense controversy. A rough continuum of positions can be discerned: At one pole are "tough-minded" commentators distinguished by their support of EBP; however, there are serious internal differences in this camp, for some regard randomised field trials (RFTs) as the gold…

Across the evidence-based policy and practice (EBPP) community, including education, randomised controlled trials (RCTS) rank as the most "rigorous" evidence for causal conclusions. This paper argues that that is misleading. Only narrow conclusions about study populations can be warranted with the kind of "rigour" that RCTs…

What role does scientific evidence play in educational practice? Supporters of evidence-based education (EBE) see it as a powerful way of improving the quality of public services which is readily applicable to the education sector. Academic scholarship, however, points out important limits to this applicability. I offer an account inspired by…

Within evidence-based education, results from randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and meta-analyses of them, are taken as reliable evidence for effectiveness -- they speak to "what works". Extending RCT results requires establishing that study samples and settings are representative of the intended target. Although widely recognised as…