Using Evidence in Practice

Overview

How should a principal decide whether to change the mathematics curriculum used in his school? How should a superintendent decide whether to expand her district's investment in early childhood programming? How should a teacher decide which is the best way to differentiate instruction in their classroom? 

The dilemmas we face as education professionals require us to make sense of, evaluate, and prioritize different kinds of evidence from varied sources. Yet many of us do not have the formal training to assess the quality of evidence or to collect our own evidence about the work we do. This means that we may miss out on strategies that work, implement strategies that don’t, and fail to learn systematically from and improve our efforts over time.

Adapted from the HGSE EdM foundational course designed by Carrie Conaway and James Kim, Using Evidence in Practice is designed to help you evaluate the many forms of evidence you will encounter and learn how to use evidence as part of your strategy for designing and improving education systems.

Program Details

Using Evidence in Practice is a six-week online workshop in which you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the utility of evidence in education, explore strategies to effectively use evidence, and begin the process of implementing a learning agenda in your program, school, or district.

This workshop includes a combination of videos, readings, activities, and other practical resources, along with ongoing discussions and supportive peer feedback. You’ll design your own learning agenda – a set of questions you need to answer to improve a program, policy, or practice – and map it to the types of evidence you would need to answer those questions. Learning agenda topics might include an investigation into the reasons for chronic absenteeism in a K12 district, or an exploration of the relationship between student advising and dropout rates in a public university.

Selected Topics:

• Turning problems of practice into questions of diagnosis, implementation, and impact
• Determining what type of evidence you need and whether it’s relevant
• Descriptive evidence: What is happening?
• Causal evidence: Does a policy, program, or practice cause an impact?
• Process evidence: Why or how is it happening?
• Synthetic evidence: What do we already know?

This learning experience is asynchronous and takes place within the learning management system Canvas​. Asynchronous programs do not have any live components and are designed to be self-paced. ​However, this program does include a suggested schedule with weekly deadlines in order to provide a guiding structure. Completing assignments on the recommended schedule is not mandatory, but allows participants to engage with and learn from the entire cohort, which helps to build a community of practice. We estimate the course will require 5 hours per week to complete, culminating in a certificate awarding 30 clock hours.

Learning Goals

• Turn problems of practice into research questions.
• Map research questions to the types of evidence needed to answer them.
• Evaluate the quality and relevance of that evidence. 

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for educators across a range of roles including:

• Teachers/Teacher Leaders
• Principals
• Superintendents
• Instructional Coaches
• Program Directors
• Non-Profit Team Leads or Executives

The content is appropriate for both U.S. and international audiences, and for educators in early ed, K12, or higher ed.

Fees & Policies

Tuition includes all instructional materials required for participation in the program.

Full tuition is due by the indicated payment deadline, please refer to the individual program’s community and application page for payment deadlines. While a purchase order confirms enrollment, full payment is still required by the final payment deadline. Please note that failure to pay by the payment deadline will result in your withdrawal from the program.

Please click here for more information on payment, refund, and withdrawal policies.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education reserves the right to change faculty or cancel programs at its discretion. The school is not responsible for any planning expenses incurred.