Improving education research: Ideology or science?

In the United States these days, there is a surprising amount of attention being paid to the improvement of research in education. Calls are heard across the land for greater rigor in educational research so that scientific evidence and researchbased practices can guide educational improvement. (For more on this, see my editorial in the March 2002 issue [Silver, 2002].) My colleagues in other countries tell me that this rhetoric is also beginning to seep across the borders and oceans surrounding the United States and is finding its way into political and professional discourse regarding education around the world.