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The toolkit presented here is based on research into the impact of evidence in education. To understand more about why these tools were created, you can refer to the full report or read on below.
Why we created this tool
01
To uncover evidence use trends
A broad base of evidence exists for what works in education but this evidence is frequently underutilized by districts when they purchase products and services. As a result, teachers and students are often not provided with high quality materials.
02
To address the evidence use deficit
The goal of this platform is to help organizations in education maximize the impact and uptake of their evidence by making evidence more accessible, intuitive, and easy to understand by aligning how it’s communicated with how humans process information.
03
To maximize impact
The tools and resources are designed to help organizations prioritize their efforts by pointing them to the evidence-based tools that are most likely to have an impact on their target audiences – whether that be district leaders, teachers, or policy makers.
About Us
The Decision Lab is a social enterprise focused on applying behavioral science for social good. We leverage behavior change frameworks, quantitative & qualitative research and an array of experimental tools to better understand decision making. Over the last three years, our work in education has focused on understanding curriculum adoption journeys in an effort to improve outcomes – particularly for marginalized students who are disproportionately affected by low quality instructional materials.
Who we serve
Beyond catering to evidence-creating and curating organizations, our aspiration extends to encompass traditional research entities engaged in generating knowledge concerning the quality of instructional materials, educational technology, and professional learning. This includes universities, educational research firms, governmental agencies within the education sector, and independent education researchers. Our toolkit is poised to enlighten the research agendas of these entities and contribute to the efficacy of their dissemination efforts.
Primarily, this toolkit is designed to cater to organizations dedicated to the creation or curation of evidence related to indicators of high-quality instructional materials, educational technology, and professional learning services. Our objective is to harness the comprehensive research conducted by The Decision Lab, delving into the decision-making dynamics of school district buyers. By applying these insights, our aim is to build the capacity of these organizations to broaden their impact and enhance the uptake of their evidence.
Peripherally, the resources within this toolkit serve as a pivotal initiation for funders seeking to strategically invest in the expansion of research activities within the education sector. These resources illuminate extensive research insights pertaining to educator preferences and behaviours, as well as the capacity requirements of evidence-creating and -curating organizations and entities.
FAQs and Glossary
Anyone who wants to encourage evidence-based decision-making in instructional materials purchases – whether that be through using guidelines, standards or other signals of quality.
Use the tool navigator to select your interests.
We encourage the broad dissemination and sharing of the resources and knowledge on this website.
Evidence is a body of facts and information indicating whether a particular proposition is true. In educational contexts, evidence-based refers to any concept or strategy that is derived from or informed by objective evidence—most commonly, educational research or metrics of school, teacher, and student performance. We acknowledge that evidence of what works is constantly evolving in response to new research.
Organizations or individuals who use evidence to make decisions about what services or products to buy. Common user groups include school district administrators, teachers, publishers, edtech companies, education NGOs, and researchers, but could include a range of other audiences.
Have questions?
We work with organizations of all kinds to develop customized solutions to social challenges.
This project was built in partnership with The Decision Lab, a socially-conscious applied research firm that generates transformational change for people, products, and organizations using behavioral science.