This document discusses connecting educational research, policy, and practice. It provides examples from different countries to illustrate challenges in aligning these areas and improving student achievement. Effective policies require high standards for teacher recruitment, rigorous training programs, and ongoing professional development. Countries discussed include Singapore, Finland, USA, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines. Curriculum is also addressed, emphasizing the need for evidence-based standards and support for teachers implementing new curricula. The document argues new roles are needed to better coordinate research, policymaking, and school-level applications.

1. Connecting Educational
Research, Policy, and
Practice
Dr. Scott Paris
October 2017

3. • Researchers are sensitive to policies
& practices
• Policymakers understand research
evidence & school practices
• Teachers & principals seek to
implement effective policies &
research

5. 1.Student Achievement
2.Teacher Effectiveness
3.Curriculum Effectiveness

6. Example #1
Student Achievement
• Fundamental goal of K-12 education
• Used to measure educational effectiveness
of schools, states, and nations
• Monitored through large-scale tests such
as PISA, TIMSS, & PIRLS

7. Enable participating countries to make evidence-based
decisions for improving educational policies & practices by
• Measuring the effectiveness of their educational systems in
a global context
• Identifying gaps in learning resources and opportunities
• Pinpointing areas of weakness and stimulating curriculum
reform
• Measuring the impact of new educational initiatives
• Training researchers and teachers in assessment and
evaluation

8. • Many countries want to emulate school-based
practices in Singapore and Finland in hopes of
replicating their success with student
achievement.
• But
• It is almost impossible to transplant isolated
programs from one educational system to
another.

9. • Consider testing practices as an example.
• Finland has virtually no formal tests; teachers assess
individual student progress through daily work.
• Singapore has high-stakes entrance tests for every level of
school.
• PSLE (Pupil School Leaving Exam) given at Year 6 is used
to track students in streamed secondary schools.
• PSLE is the focus of schools from Year 4 onward.
• Children expected to study all tests from the past 10 years.
• Mothers are expected to quit work for a year to help their
children prepare for the PSLE.
• Which testing practice should be adopted by other nations?

10. 1. Theory of Cultural Relativity
2. Problem of Knowing What Works
3. When Policies Backfire

11. 1. Daily practices in school are embedded in social
customs, cultural values, and historical traditions.
2. Teachers’ and students’ beliefs and expectations make
some practices easier and more successful than others.
3. Singapore’s traditions of homework, after-school tuition,
and kiasu are difficult to export to other countries.
4. Last week, Andreas Schleicher said that Australian
teachers worried too much about smaller class sizes and
not enough about teaching critical thinking. He cited
China’s practices as a relevant model, but he assumed
that Australian class size could be 40+ students.

12. 1. What works in one country or one school
may not work in another country or school.
2. The “fit” and success of all school-based
practices depends on teachers’
pedagogical skills, students’ effort and
ownership, and parents’ support for the
practices.

13. John Hattie (2009)
• Visible Learning summarized hundreds of meta-analyses
and identified more than 800 factors that influence
student achievement.
• Does it make sense to apply the factors with the largest
effect sizes to all schools?
• No. Hattie says that research is groaning under the
weight of so many studies that promise to foster student
achievement.
• The problem is selecting, tailoring, and revising practices
to fit the local context.

14. 1. Singapore analyzes student performance on the PISA
test items to identify the problems that are most difficult
for students and then teach them in the curriculum.
2. “Teaching to the test” like this promotes learning of
difficult concepts, but does it narrow the curriculum?
3. Singapore recognized this problem and revised their
curriculum ten years ago to be more holistic and include
socio-emotional skills.
4. When single tests like the PSLE and gow kow in China
determine educational futures of students, is it too much
dependence on a single test?
5. In the USA, parents are increasingly “opting out” of
standardized testing in an effort to change policies.

15. • Aligning policies, research, and practice
is a recurring balancing act that is never-
ending.
• Requires a Theory of Change with
actions for all stakeholders

16. Policies are required to assure that skilled
teachers have appropriate expertise.
• Recruitment & Selection
• Pre-service training
• In-service professional development

17. Recruitment & Selection
of Teachers
• Singapore and Finland select future teachers
from the best students because teaching is a
high-status and high-paying profession.
• In the USA and Australia, future teachers are
drawn from a wider variety of backgrounds.
• Australia has had to lower the ATAR test score
requirements to recruit new teachers.

18. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
< 50 50+ 60+ 70+ 80+ 90+
Percentage
ATAR band
Figure 1:Percentage share of Year 12 offers by ATAR band for teacher
education course 2005 and 2016 compared with all university courses
in 2016
2005 2016 All university courses 2016

19. Pre-Service Training
• Singapore trains all teachers at the National institute of
Education (NIE) so all teachers develop similar knowledge
and expertise. The uniformity of training in pedagogy,
assessment, and curriculum means that Singapore teachers
can collaborate effectively in schools as professional
learning communities.
• In contrast, teachers in the USA and Australia are trained in
hundreds of different institutions by teacher educators with
widely different experiences and expertise.
• The result is less quality assurance of teacher expertise.

20. Consider results of an IEA study
on Quality Assurance in 17
countries
High quality assurance of teacher
preparation resulted in higher scores for:
1. Teachers’ mathematical knowledge in
Primary grades
2. Grade 8 students’ TIMSS scores

23. Professional Development
• Teachers need high-quality opportunities for
continued learning and development, not one-
time drop-in workshops by external experts.
• Teachers need sequential career ladders that
include mentoring and diverse professional
experiences to prepare leadership skills.

24. • High standards for selecting teachers
• Rigorous and uniform training across
institutions
• Structured professional development
programs
• Professional Learning Communities within
and among schools
• Better Career Ladders for teachers and
principals to build capacity for leadership

25. • Curriculum is a public statement of the
content and values of the school system.
• It provides a “scope and sequence” of
content across grades and subjects.
• It should be evidence-based and research-
based.
• It should be dynamic and adaptive over
time.

26. • Singapore
• Philippines

27. • MOE has a unit called Curriculum Planning and
Development Department (CPPD) that
coordinates all changes to curriculum from PreK-
12.
• Staged review and revisions of different content
at different grade levels.
• Training for new curricula begins before
implementation and continues for years
afterwards.

28. • Develop and manage the national education
policy framework on learning management and
delivery for all types of learners including those
with special needs.
• Design learning management and delivery
models for different learning groups/types of
learners.
• Develop and manage the training and
development program for the teaching personnel
in coordination with the National Educators
Academy of the Philippines (NEAP).

29. One Example of BLD Work
• Philippines K-3 curriculum has been
translated into 19 mother-tongue
languages to support transition to formal
schooling in native languages.
• Multilingual approach is part of curriculum
implementation across the country.

30. Indonesia
• Implemented a decentralized curriculum in
2006 and then a centralized Kurikulum
2013 (K13).
• K13 emphasized integrated curricula,
technology, and 21st century skills,
• But teachers were confused by new
standards, competencies, and materials.

31. • Overcrowded curriculum with too many
objectives
• Fragmented competencies without clear
definitions
• Voluminous textbooks with information overload
• Not aligned with national examinations

32. 1. No developmental framework for
competencies and skills
2. No learning continua to guide teachers’
instruction
3. Few formative assessments within lessons
4. Few curricular materials for building 21st
century skills such as collaboration and
citizenship
5. Poor teacher training, especially in rural and
remote areas

33. Next Steps
• Simplify competencies and objectives
• Provide learning progressions for competencies
• Revise K13 textbooks
• Develop formative assessments
• Provide mother tongue materials for K-3
• Train teachers with new pedagogies and
materials

34. Because it is nobody’s job now.
Can we design new roles that focus on
coordinating research, policies, and
practices?

35. • Researchers who are trained to translate
academic research into practical programs,
• Policymakers who are former teachers and
understand how to implement new policies in
schools,
• Teachers and principals who are experts in
curriculum, instruction, assessment, and teacher
development, and
• Local educational authorities who are accountable
for success in schools.

36. You can email me at:
scott.paris@acer.edu.org