CSR Practitioner's Guide to SBR - Introduction |
Welcome to the Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) Practitioner's
Guide to Scientifically Based Research. This guide is designed to
help those planning for or implementing CSR to understand and respond
to the new federal regulations regarding the quality of research
supporting CSR programs. The 2001 re-authorization of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requires that state and local
education agencies receiving CSR funds have quality research to
support their choice of practices, strategies, and overall approach.
The new federal requirements build upon a growing movement to
raise the quality of school programs by requiring that they first
be reviewed for evidence of effectiveness as indicated by quality
research. However, there is often a lack of research that meets
the highest quality standards for research, as defined by the federal
legislation, upon which to base these decisions. In a few areas
of education research--most notably in reading--there has been a
substantial improvement in quality and a growing consensus of experts
around what is "known." In most other areas of education
research, however, such strong evidence and convergence of opinions
do not exist. In those cases, educators planning for CSR rely on
other research available, including research reflecting "best
practices" or other professional wisdom.
The National Clearinghouse
for Comprehensive School Reform (NCCSR) designed this tool
so that those making decisions about developing or funding CSR programs
can understand the research available on the various CSR components
and can easily access a variety of supporting resources, most of
which are available on-line.
This guide will help CSR practitioners:
- Understand federal definitions of scientifically based research
(SBR)
- Identify CSR regulations that refer to SBR
- Recognize the responsibilities of state and local education
agencies for SBR
- Determine how SBR relates to specific CSR components
- Locate resources that will aid in designing a CSR program supported
by scientifically based research when available and the best alternatives
when it is not.
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