Home » Education & Career » Redefining Education » Applying Academic Research to the School System

Applying Academic Research to the School System

© R. L. Head

I know that many people, including American citizens in general, have been burned by the "latest and greatest" fads in many areas. It does not, nor has it ever, been sensible to me to take any information, with rare exception, and change everything overnight to reflect this "new" information.

This is especially true of educational research if, for no other reason, than we are using our children as guinea pigs. So how are we to take information obtained through scientific research and apply it to our classrooms? Not one to complain without offering at least a hint of a solution, I actually have one I think has some general merit.

Instead of taking the results of academic research and changing the entire school system immediately, why not take this information and apply it to experimental, real-life classrooms across the country. For example, I have read over the years that adolescents do better academically and in other ways when they start their day later. My children have to be in school by 7:30 a.m.. My 14 year old is not suffering too badly, but it is very difficult for my 12 year old. He was having enough trouble with the 8:30 a.m. elementary school starting time. Today he is home from school, sick, and I am sure it is because he is exhausted. His teachers complain he sleeps in his early morning classes regularly. I just hope he isn't snoring or talking in his sleep although talking in his sleep might be beneficial. It has been suggested that you can learn when you are asleep, but I don't believe this is what his teachers have in mind. Now, if we could take a sampling of schools across the country- rural, urban, inner city, small, large, etc- and let one group start early and another one hour later and perhaps another group two hours later, then we could compare them and see how this theory works in real life. We would also have to evaluate how a later starting time affects the rest of the family.

By using only a small, representative group of schools with which to conduct our research, then we subject fewer children to any risk. There are some other benefits to this kind of approach to the investigation of ways we can improve our schools. As it stands, if we turn the world upside down and change large numbers of schools, if the idea is not a complete, instant success, those involved tend to want to abandon the idea. There is too much at stake, and the playing field is too large to handle. If, instead, there are only small numbers of schools involved, it will be easier to fine tune a possibly good idea, work with it, and make the positive adjustments necessary to increase the chance for success. Also, with smaller numbers of schools involved, the people doing the research which is being used might actually be able to get involved. There are many people who feel that those doing the research live and work in ivory towers which do not let them truly understand the real world. By limiting the number of schools involved in testing theories, we can ask that the researchers work with the schools using that research to discover what works and what doesn't.