blog posts and news stories

Updated Research Guidelines Will Improve Education Technology Products and Provide More Value to Schools

Recommendations include 16 best practices for the design, implementation, and reporting of Usable Evidence for Educators

Palo Alto, CA (April 25, 2018) – Empirical Education Inc. and the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN) of SIIA released an important update to the “Guidelines for Conducting and Reporting Edtech Impact Research in U.S. K-12 Schools” today.

Authored by Empirical Education researchers, Drs. Denis Newman, Andrew Jaciw, and Valeriy Lazarev, the Guidelines detail 16 best practices for the design, implementation, and reporting of efficacy research of education technology. Recommendations range from completing the product’s logic model before fielding it to disseminating a study’s results in accessible and non-technical language.

The Guidelines were first introduced in July 2017 at ETIN’s Edtech Impact Symposium to address the changing demand for research. They served to address new challenges driven by the accelerated pace of edtech development and product releases, the movement of new software to the cloud, and the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The authors committed to making regular updates to keep pace with technical advances in edtech and research methods.

“Our collaboration with ETIN brought the right mix of practical expertise to this important document,” said Denis Newman, CEO of Empirical Education and lead author of the Guidelines. “ETIN provided valuable expertise in edtech marketing, policy, and development. With over a decade of experience evaluating policies, programs, and products for the U.S. Department of Education, major research organizations, and publishers, Empirical Education brought a deep understanding of how studies are traditionally performed and how they can be improved in the future. Our experience with our Evidence as a Service™ offering to investors and developers of edtech products also informed the guidelines.”

The current edition advocates for analysis of usage patterns in the data collected routinely by edtech applications. These patterns help to identify classrooms and schools with adequate implementation and lead to lower-cost faster turn-around research. So rather than investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a single large-scale study, developers should consider multiple small-scale studies. The authors point to the advantages of looking at subgroup analysis to better understand how and for whom the product works best, thus more directly answering common educator questions. Issues with quality of implementation are addressed in greater depth, and the visual design of the Guidelines has been refined for improved readability.

“These guidelines may spark a rebellion against the research business as usual, which doesn’t help educators know whether an edtech product will work for their specific populations. They also provide a basis for schools and developers to partner to make products better,” said Mitch Weisburgh, Managing Partner of Academic Business Advisors, LLC and President of ETIN, who has moderated panels and webinars on edtech research.

Empirical Education, in partnership with a variety of organizations, is conducting webinars to help explain the updates to the Guidelines, as well as to discuss the importance of these best practices in the age of ESSA. The updated Guidelines are available here: https://www.empiricaleducation.com/research-guidelines/.

Sure, the edtech product is proven to work, but will it work in my district?

It’s a scenario not uncommon in your district administrators’ office. They’ve received sales pitches and demos of a slew of new education technology (edtech) products, each one accompanied with “evidence” of its general benefits for teachers and students. But underlying the administrator’s decision is a question often left unanswered: Will this work in our district?

In the conventional approach to research advocated, for example, by the U.S. Department of Education and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the finding that is reported and used in the review of products is the overall average impact for any and all subgroups of students, teachers, or schools in the study sample. In our own research, we have repeatedly seen that who it works for and under what conditions can be more important than the average impact. There are products that are effective on average but don’t work for an important subgroup of students, or vice versa, work for some students but not all. Some examples:

• A math product, while found to be effective overall, was effective for white students but ineffective for minority students. This effect would be relevant to any district wanting to close (rather than further widen) an achievement gap.
• A product that did well on average performed very well in elementary grades but poorly in middle school. This has obvious relevance for a district, as well as for the provider who may modify its marketing target.
• A teacher PD product greatly benefitted uncertified teachers but didn’t help the veteran teachers do any better than their peers using the conventional textbook. This product may be useful for new teachers but a poor choice for others.

As a research organization, we have been looking at ways to efficiently answer these kinds of questions for products. Especially now, with the evidence requirements built into ESSA, school leaders can ask the edtech salesperson: “Does your product have evidence that ESSA calls for?” They may well hear an affirmative answer supported by an executive summary of a recent study. But, there’s a fundamental problem with what ESSA is asking for. ESSA doesn’t ask for evidence that the product is likely to work in your specific district. This is not the fault of ESSA’s drafters. The problem is built into the conventional design of research on “what works”. The U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) bases its evidence rating only on an average; if there are different results for different subgroups of students, that difference is not part of the rating. Since ESSA adopts the WWC approach, that’s the law of the land. Hence, your district’s most pressing question is left unanswered: will this work for a district like mine?

Recently, the Software & Information Industry Association, the primary trade association of the software industry, released a set of guidelines for research explaining to its member companies the importance of working with districts to conduct research that will meet the ESSA standards. As the lead author of this report, I can say it was our goal to foster an improved dialog between the schools and the providers about the evidence that should be available to support buying these products. As an addendum to the guidelines aimed at arming educators with ways to look at the evidence and questions to ask the edtech salesperson, here are three suggestions:

1. It is better to have some information than no information. The fact that there’s research that found the product worked somewhere gives you a working hypothesis that it could be a better than average bet to try out in your district. In this respect, you can consider the WWC and newer sites such as Evidence for ESSA rating of the study as a screening tool—they will point you to valid studies about the product you’re interested in. But you should treat previous research as a working hypothesis rather than proof.
2. Look at where the research evidence was collected. You’ll want to know whether the research sites and populations in the study resemble your local conditions. WWC has gone to considerable effort to code the research by the population in the study and provides a search tool so you can find studies conducted in districts like yours. And if you download and read the original report, it may tell you whether it will help reduce or increase an achievement gap of concern.
3. Make a deal with the salesperson. In exchange for your help in organizing a pilot and allowing them to analyze your data, you get the product for a year at a steep discount and a good ongoing price if you decide to implement the product on a full scale. While you’re unlikely to get results from a pilot (e.g., based on spring testing) in time to support a decision, you can at least lower your cost for the materials, and you’ll help provide a neighboring district (with similar populations and conditions) with useful evidence to support a strong working hypothesis as to whether it is likely to work for them as well.
   

ETIN Releases Guidelines for Research on Educational Technologies in K-12 Schools

The press release (below) was originally published on the SIIA website. It has since inspired stories in the Huffington Post, edscoop, and EdWeek’s Market Brief

ETIN Releases Guidelines for Research on Educational Technologies in K-12 Schools

Changes in education technology and policy spur updated approach to industry research

Washington, DC (July 25, 2017) – The Education Technology Industry Network, a division of The Software & Information Industry Association, released an important new report today: “Guidelines for Conducting and Reporting EdTech Impact Research in U.S. K-12 Schools.” Authored by Dr. Denis Newman and the research team at Empirical Education Inc., the Guidelines provide 16 best practice standards of research for publishers and developers of educational technologies.

The Guidelines are a response to the changing research methods and policies driven by the accelerating pace of development and passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which has challenged the static notion of evidence defined in NCLB. Recognizing the need for consensus among edtech providers, customers in the K-12 school market, and policy makers at all levels, SIIA is making these Guidelines freely available.

“SIIA members recognize that changes in technology and policy have made evidence of impact an increasingly critical differentiator in the marketplace,” said Bridget Foster, senior VP and managing director of ETIN. “The Guidelines show how research can be conducted and reported within a short timeframe and still contribute to continuous product improvement.”

“The Guidelines for research on edtech products is consistent with our approach to efficacy: that evidence of impact can lead to product improvement,” said Amar Kumar, senior vice president of Efficacy & Research at Pearson. “We appreciate ETIN’s leadership and Empirical Education’s efforts in putting together this clear presentation of how to use rigorous and relevant research to drive growth in the market.”

The Guidelines draw on over a decade of experience in conducting research in the context of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, and its Investing in Innovation program.

“The current technology and policy environment provides an opportunity to transform how research is done,” said Dr. Newman, CEO of Empirical Education Inc. and lead author of the Guidelines. “Our goal in developing the new guidelines was to clarify current requirements in a way that will help edtech companies provide school districts with the evidence they need to consistently quantify the value of software tools. My thanks go to SIIA and the highly esteemed panel of reviewers whose contribution helped us provide the roadmap for the change that is needed.”

“In light of the ESSA evidence standards and the larger movement toward evidence-based reform, publishers and software developers are increasingly being called upon to show evidence that their products make a difference with children,” said Guidelines peer reviewer Dr. Robert Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University. “The ETIN Guidelines provide practical, sensible guidance to those who are ready to meet these demands.”

ETIN’s goal is to improve the market for edtech products by advocating for greater transparency in reporting research findings. For that reason, it is actively working with government, policy organizations, foundations, and universities to gain the needed consensus for change.

“As digital instructional materials flood the market place, state and local leaders need access to evidence-based research regarding the effectiveness of products and services. This guide is a great step in supporting both the public and private sector to help ensure students and teachers have access to the most effective resources for learning,” stated Christine Fox, Deputy Executive Director, SETDA. The Guidelines can be downloaded here: https://www.empiricaleducation.com/research-guidelines.

SIIA ETIN EIS Conference Presentations 2017

We are playing a major role in the Education Impact Symposium (EIS), organized by the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN), a division of The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA).

1. ETIN is releasing a set of edtech research guidelines that CEO Denis Newman wrote this year
2. Denis is speaking on 2 panels this year

The edtech research guidelines that Denis authored and ETIN is releasing on Tuesday, July 25 are called “Guidelines for Conducting and Reporting EdTech Impact Research in U.S. K-12 Schools” and can be downloaded from this webpage. The Guidelines are a much-needed response to a rapidly-changing environment of cloud-based technology and important policy changes brought about by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The panels Denis will be presenting on are both on Tuesday, July 25, 2017.

12:30 - 1:15pm
ETIN’s New Guidelines for Product Research in the ESSA Era
With the recent release of ETIN’s updated Guidelines for EdTech Impact Research, developers and publishers can ride the wave of change from NCLB’s sluggish concept of “scientifically-based” to ESSA’s dynamic view of “evidence” for continuous improvement. The Guidelines are being made publicly available at the Symposium, with a discussion and Q&A led by the lead author and some of the contributing reviewers.
Moderator:
Myron Cizdyn, Chief Executive Officer, The BLPS Group
Panelists:
Malvika Bhagwat, Research & Efficacy, Newsela
Amar Kumar, Sr. Vice President, Pearson
Denis Newman, CEO, Empirical Education Inc.
John Richards, President, Consulting Services for Education

2:30 - 3:30pm
The Many Faces of Impact
Key stakeholders in the EdTech Community will each review in Ted Talk style, what they are doing to increase impact of digital products, programs and services. Our line-up of presenters include:
- K-12 and HE content providers using impact data to better understand their customers improve their products, and support their marketing and sales teams
- an investor seeking impact on both disadvantaged populations and their financial return in order to make funding decisions for portfolio companies
- an education organization helping institutions decide what research is useful to them and how to grapple with new ESSA requirements
- a researcher working with product developers to produce evidence of the impact of their digital products

After the set of presenters have finished, we’ll have time for your questions on these multidimensional aspects of IMPACT and how technology can help.
Moderator:
Karen Billings, Principal, BillingsConnects
Panelists:
Jennifer Carolan, General Partner, Reach Capital
Christopher Cummings, VP, Institutional Product and Solution Design, Cengage
Melissa Greene, Director, Strategic Partnerships, SETDA
Denis Newman, CEO, Empirical Education Inc.
Kari Stubbs, PhD, Vice President, Learning & Innovation, BrainPOP

If you get a chance to check out the Guidelines before EIS, Denis would love to hear your thoughts about them at the conference.

Research Guidelines Re-released to Broader Audience

The updated guidelines for evaluation research were unveiled at the SIIA Ed Tech Business Forum, held in New York City on November 28 - 29. Authored by Empirical’s CEO, Denis Newman, and issued by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), the guidelines seek to provide a standard of best practices for conducting and reporting evaluation studies for educational technologies in order to enhance the quality, credibility, and utility to education decision makers.

Denis introduced the guidelines during the “Meet the authors of SIIA Publications” session on November 29. Non-members will be able to purchase the guidelines from Selling to Schools starting Thursday, December 1, 2011 (with continued free access to SIIA members). UPDATE: Denis was interviewed by Glen McCandless of Selling to Schools on December 15, 2011 to discuss key aspects of the guidelines. Listen to the full interview here.

Need for Product Evaluations Continues to Grow

There is a growing need for evidence of the effectiveness of products and services being sold to schools. A new release of SIIA’s product evaluation guidelines is now available at the Selling to Schools website (with continued free access to SIIA members), to help guide publishers in measuring the effectiveness of the tools they are selling to schools.

It’s been almost a decade since NCLB made its call for “scientifically-based research,” but the calls for research haven’t faded away. This is because resources available to schools have diminished over that time, heightening the importance of cost benefit trade-offs in spending.

NCLB has focused attention on test score achievement, and this metric is becoming more pervasive; e.g., through a tie to teacher evaluation and through linkages to dropout risk. While NCLB fostered a compliance mentality—product specs had to have a check mark next to SBR—the need to assure that funds are not wasted is now leading to a greater interest in research results. Decision-makers are now very interested in whether specific products will be effective, or how well they have been working, in their districts.

Fortunately, the data available for evaluations of all kinds is getting better and easier to access. The U.S. Department of Education has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into state data systems. These investments make data available to states and drive the cleaning and standardizing of data from districts. At the same time, districts continue to invest in data systems and warehouses. While still not a trivial task, the ability of school district researchers to get the data needed to determine if an investment paid off—in terms of increased student achievement or attendance—has become much easier over the last decade.

The reauthorization of ESEA (i.e., NCLB) is maintaining the pressure to evaluate education products. We are still a long way from the draft reauthorization introduced in Congress becoming a law, but the initial indications are quite favorable to the continued production of product effectiveness evidence. The language has changed somewhat. Look for the phrase “evidence based”. Along with the term “scientifically-valid”, this new language is actually more sophisticated and potentially more effective than the old SBR neologism. Bob Slavin, one of the reviewers of the SIIA guidelines, says in his Ed Week blog that “This is not the squishy ‘based on scientifically-based evidence’ of NCLB. This is the real McCoy.” It is notable that the definition of “evidence-based” goes beyond just setting rules for the design of research, such as the SBR focus on the single dimension of “internal validity” for which randomization gets the top rating. It now asks how generalizable the research is or its “external validity”; i.e., does it have any relevance for decision-makers?

One of the important goals of the SIIA guidelines for product effectiveness research is to improve the credibility of publisher-sponsored research. It is important that educators see it as more than just “market research” producing biased results. In this era of reduced budgets, schools need to have tangible evidence of the value of products they buy. By following the SIIA’s guidelines, publishers will find it easier to achieve that credibility.

Expertise Provided for New York Times Front Page Story

Empirical’s CEO, Denis Newman, was one of the experts consulted by New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel in his Sunday Times, front page story, “Inflating the Software Report Card.” Newman’s commentary on the first article in this series can be seen here. The article also refers to the guidelines for evaluation research issued by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), which can be found on the SIIA site. In addition, the report referred to in the article—which was not authored by Newman but a team of company researchers—can be found on our reports and papers page. (Some readers were confused by the misspelling of Newman’s first name as “Dennis”.)

Making Vendor Research More Credible

The latest evidence that research can be both rigorous and relevant was the subject of an announcement that the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) made last month about their new guidelines for conducting effectiveness research. The document is aimed at SIIA members, most of whom are executives of education software and technology companies and not necessarily schooled in research methodology. The main goal in publishing the guidelines is to improve the quality—and therefore the credibility—of research sponsored by the industry. The document provides SIIA members with things to keep in mind when contracting for research or using research in marketing materials. The document also has value for educators, especially those responsible for purchasing decisions. That’s an important point that I’ll get back to.

One thing to make clear in this blog entry is that while your humble blogger (DN) is given credit as the author, the Guidelines actually came from a working group of SIIA members who put in many months of brainstorming, discussion, and review. DN’s primary contribution was just to organize the ideas, ensure they were technically accurate, and put them into easy to understand language.

Here’s a taste of some of the ideas contained in the 22 guidelines:

• With a few exceptions, all research should be reported regardless of the result. Cherry picking just the studies with strong positive results distorts the facts and in the long run hurts credibility. One lesson that might be taken from this is that conducting several small studies may be preferable to trying to prove a product effective (or not) in a single study.

• Always provide a link to the full report. Too often in marketing materials (including those of advocacy groups, not just publishers) a fact such as “8th grade math achievement increased from 31% in 2004 to 63% in 2005,” is offered with no citation. In this specific case, the fact was widely cited but after considerable digging could be traced back to a report described by the project director as “anecdotal”.

• Be sure to take implementation into account. In education, all instructional programs require setting up complex systems of teacher-student interaction, which can vary in numerous ways. Issues of how research can support the process and what to do with inadequate or outright failed implementation must be understood by researchers and consumers of research.

• Watch out for the control condition. In education there are no placebos. In almost all cases we are comparing a new program to whatever is in place. Depending on how well the existing program works, the program being evaluated may appear to have an impact or not. This calls for careful consideration of where to test a product and understandable concern by educators as to how well a particular product tested in another district will perform against what is already in place in their district.

The Guidelines are not just aimed at industry. SIIA believes that as decision-makers at schools begin to see a commitment to providing stronger research, their trust in the results will increase. It is also in the educators’ interest to review the guidelines because they provide a reference point for what actionable research should look like. Ultimately, the Guidelines provide educators with help in conducting their own research, whether it is on their own or in partnership with the education technology providers.

Software Industry Issues New Research Guidelines

See what Deb Viadero has to say about the SIIA guidelines here.

Software Industry Sets High Standards for Product Evaluation Research

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) announced the release of their new report, authored by our very own Dr. Denis Newman under the direction of the SIIA Education Division’s Research & Evaluation Working Group, the guidelines provide practical considerations and share best practices of product evaluation design, conduct, and reporting. Written primarily for publishers and developers of education technology, the guidelines reflect the high standards necessary to carry out rigorous, unbiased effectiveness research. Reviewers of the guidelines included Larry Hedges with Northwestern University, Robert Slavin with Johns Hopkins University, and Talbot Bielefeldt with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). A delegation of software publishers presented the Guidelines May 17 at the US Department of Education to John Q. Easton (Director of IES) and Karen Cator (Director of the Office of Education Technology). The document is now available to the public at the link above.