Empirical Education Pilots Workshop at REL-NEI Regional Meeting
Providence, RI was the site of REL Northeast and Islands’ 2007 Regional Meeting on Teacher Quality. Empirical Education staff headed out to the east coast to pilot the “Becoming Good Consumers of Research” workshop to an audience of about 30 education researchers, school administrators, university professors, and other education professionals interested in using research to inform school decisions. Gloria Miller, the company’s director of evaluation design, facilitated group discussions that touched on identifying different types of research and potential sources of bias. Gloria also provided participants with a Critical Reader’s toolkit designed to help readers evaluate the trustworthiness and relevance of various pieces of research. “Consumers of Research” is the first in a planned series of workshops focused on increasing the understanding and use of research in schools. The next round of workshops, scheduled for March 2008, is currently being developed.