Quality of Research Evidence in Education: How Do We Know?

The persistence of inequitable education is the fundamental fact facing education researchers as we reflect on the quality and value of the evidence we produce (American Educational Research Association & National Academy of Education, 2020; Educational Opportunity Monitoring Project, 2020). As a field, we must critically examine what it means for us to develop increasingly sophisticated research tools and research design models while disparate outcomes along familiar lines of race and class continue apace. This issue’s importance has been laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global protests for racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. If our research endeavors are not effectively combating racism in education, providing help as our schools refashion themselves for remote and hybrid teaching, or supporting schools in other ways to address the myriad of equity gaps they face, then what are we doing? What are we generating evidence of and for?