Educational Research
Educational Research
Educational Research
Education research is plagued by skeptics who doubt its quality and More––and more diverse––people need to learn more––and
relevance. Inhabitants of schools of education have been among the more varied––things than ever before. An educated citizenry is
sharpest critics, and internal battles rage over method and rigor. Yet needed to tackle societal problems of health care, hunger, energy,
often lacking is research that explains causes or examines the inter-
poverty, and environmental sustainability. Moreover, as life
expectancies increase and as globalization and the digital revolu-
play at the heart of educational practice and policy. This article argues
tion alter basic notions of access and interaction, the kind of edu-
for a conception of research in education that deliberately presses cation required will change, and it will need to extend across the
into what is called here the instructional dynamic. Using a sample of life span.
studies that exemplify this quintessentially educational perspective, Yet delivering effective education remains a problem. Formal
the authors unpack key features of research that probes inside schooling and educational programs often fail. Students retain
education. They discuss how such research complements in essen-
misconceptions even after instruction, basic academic skills are
often undeveloped, and many youth leave school unprepared to
tial ways the other kinds of scholarship that examine and inform
participate competently in a democratic and diverse society. Most
education. troubling is that education is delivered unevenly and inequitably.
In the United States as elsewhere, the nature of the educational
opportunities available to students living in poverty or to those
Keywords: education research; education researchers; schools
who are members of underrepresented groups is on average infe-
of education; teaching practice rior to that available to their middle-class and White counter-
parts. These inequities produce significant disparities in academic
achievement and in employment opportunities. For individual
and societal reasons, it is imperative to address these problems.
S
chools of education are perennially under fire. Critics point To date, however, solutions have been elusive.
to the uselessness of education research, the low intellec- One impediment is that solving educational problems is not
tual demand of teacher education, and the weak academic thought to demand special expertise. Despite persistent problems
qualifications of education students and their professors. Disdain of quality, equity, and scale, many Americans seem to believe that
for education schools is not new. From Bestor (1953) to Lyon work in education requires common sense more than it does the
(2002), commentators have heaped criticism on the colleges, sort of disciplined knowledge and skill that enable work in other
schools, and departments whose central mission is “education” fields. Few people would think they could treat a cancer patient,
(Conant, 1963; Judge, 1982; Koerner, 1963; Levine, 2006). The design a safer automobile, or repair a bridge, for these obviously
very existence of these departments and schools is threatened; require special skill and expertise. Whether the challenge is recruit-
some leading universities have closed or downsized their schools ing teachers, motivating students to read, or improving the math
of education. We argue that schools of education have a special curriculum, however, many smart people think they know what
role in addressing problems of educational improvement. it takes. Because schooling is a common experience, familiarity
The basis of our argument—and the answer to the question masks its complexity. Powell (1980), for example, referred to edu-
in our title—is that what makes education research “educational” cation as a “fundamentally uncertain profession” about which the
is a particular orientation to scholarship that we call research in perception exists that ingenuity and art matter more than profes-
education. sional knowledge. Yet the fact that educational problems endure
The larger problem that animates this question is the broad despite repeated efforts to solve them suggests the fallacy of this
challenge of educational improvement and transformation. reliance on common sense. Disciplined research on problems and
Economic sustainability and quality of life depend on education. solutions could help in education, just as it does in other domains.