---
title: "Evidence-based education"
chunk: 3/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence-based_education"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:25:34.880785+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. A concern of some researchers is the unreliability of some of these reports due to mythological features. For example, it is suggested that some meta-analyses findings are not credible because they do not exclude or control for studies with small sample sizes or very short durations, and where the researchers are doing the measurements. Such reports can yield "implausible" results. According to Robert Slavin, of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University and Evidence for ESSA, "Meta-analyses are important, because they are widely read and widely cited, in comparison to individual studies. Yet until meta-analyses start consistently excluding, or at least controlling for studies with factors known to inflate mean effect sizes, then they will have little if any meaning for practice."

== Research sources and information ==
The following organizations evaluate research on educational programs, or help educators to understand the research.

=== Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE) ===
Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE) is a free website created by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (established in 2004) and is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. It gives educators and researchers reviews about the strength of the evidence supporting a variety of English programs available for students in grades K–12. The reviews cover programs in areas such as mathematics, reading, writing, science, comprehensive school reform, and early childhood education; and includes such topics as effectiveness of technology and struggling readers.
BEE selects reviews that meet consistent scientific standards and relate to programs that are available to educators.
Educational programs in the reviews are rated according to the overall strength of the evidence supporting their effects on students as determined by the combination the quality of the research design and their effect size. The BEE website contains an explanation of their interpretation of effect size and how it might be viewed as a percentile score. It uses the following categories of ratings:

Strong evidence of effectiveness
Moderate evidence of effectiveness
Limited evidence of effectiveness: Strong evidence of modest effects
Limited evidence of effectiveness: Weak evidence with notable effect
No qualifying studies

==== Reading programs ====
In 2021, BEE released a review of research on 61 studies of 51 different programs for struggling readers in elementary schools. 84% were randomized experiments and 16% quasi-experiments. The vast majority were done in the US, the programs are replicable, and the studies, done between 1990 and 2018, had a minimum duration of 12 weeks. Many of the programs used phonics-based teaching and/or one or more of the following:  cooperative learning, technology-supported adaptive instruction (see Educational technology), metacognitive skills, phonemic awareness, word reading, fluency, vocabulary, multisensory learning, spelling, guided reading, reading comprehension, word analysis, structured curriculum, and balanced literacy (non-phonetic approach). Significantly, table 5 (pg. 88) shows the mean weighted effect sizes of the programs by the manner in which they were conducted (i.e. by school, by classroom, by technology-supported adaptive instruction, by one-to-small-group tutoring, and by one-to-one tutoring). Table 8 (pg. 91) lists the 22 programs meeting ESSA standards for strong and moderate ratings, and their effect size.
The review concludes that a) outcomes were positive for one-to-one tutoring, b) outcomes were positive but not as large for one-to-small group tutoring, c) there were no differences in outcomes between teachers and teaching assistants as tutors, d) technology-supported adaptive instruction did not have positive outcomes, e) whole-class approaches (mostly cooperative learning) and whole-school approaches incorporating tutoring obtained outcomes for struggling readers as large as those found for one- to-one tutoring, and benefitted many more students, and f) approaches mixing classroom and school improvements, with tutoring for the most at-risk students, have the greatest potential for the largest numbers of struggling readers.
The site also offers a newsletter, originated by Robert Slavin the former Director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, containing information on education around the world. The issue for January 28, 2021 has a chart showing that proven tutoring programs during the regular school year are significantly more effective than other approaches such as summer school (without tutoring), after school, extended-day, and technology. The February 11, 2021 issue makes a case for using Federal Government COVID-19 funding (the Learning Recovery Act) to provide for the "implementation of proven tutoring programs during ordinary school times".

=== Blueprints for healthy youth development ===
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, University of Colorado Boulder, offers a registry of evidence-based interventions with "the strongest scientific support" that are effective in promoting a healthy course of action for youth development.

=== Education Endowment Foundation ===
The Education Endowment Foundation of London, England was established in 2011 by The Sutton Trust, as a lead charity in partnership with Impetus Trust, together being the government-designated What Works Centre for UK Education.
It offers an online, downloadable Teaching & Learning Toolkit evaluating and describing a variety of educational interventions according to cost, evidence and impact.
As an example, it evaluates and describes a 2018 phonics reading program with low cost, extensive evidence and moderate impact.

=== Evidence for ESSA ===
Evidence for ESSA began in 2017 and is produced by the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, Baltimore, MD. It is reported to have received "widespread support ", and offers free up-to-date information on current PK-12 programs in reading, math, social-emotional learning, and attendance that meet the standards of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (the United States K–12 public education policy signed by President Obama in 2015). It also provides information on programs that do meet ESSA standards as well as those that do not.