The Untested Accusation: Principals, Research Knowledge, and Policy Making in Schools

(Hardback)

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Compares the usefulness and relevance of research knowledge among public, parochial, and independent schools; primary and secondary education; and in two differing national contexts: one (the United States) featuring a decentralized educational system organized around local school districts, the other (Australia) offering a more centralized system largely controlled at the state and federal levels. The authors begin by reviewing prior assertions, scholarly discussions, and evidence concerning the impact of social research in other fields as well as education. They then provide a conceptual model for thinking about the problem and details of the study upon which the book is based, which consisted of in-depth interviews with 120 school principals in the United States and Australia. These interviews generated quantitative as well as qualitative data, and the substantive chapters of this monograph provide both statistical evidence and verbal materials, illustrating major points, quoted from the principals interviewed. Principals report how they have been exposed to research knowledge, their attitudes concerning research knowledge and innovation in their schools, the types of research knowledge they talk about spontaneously, their familiarity with preselected research topics, and the ways in which they have used or plan to use research knowledge.

Reviews

"This book is a highly important demonstration that educational practitioners do know about and do value education research, and that it informs their thinking and their practice. Based on interviews with principals in the U.S. and Australia, it effectively counters arguments that education research is irrelevant, and thus gives significant support to the authors' call for improvements in research and dissemination efforts."-Carol Hirschon Weiss Beatrice B. Whiting Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education
"This book reports a study of how school principals in Australia and the United States view and use research knowledge and provides a fascinating response to this all too common accusation. Biddle and Saha should be applauded for their efforts which have potential to change educational policy and practice, the support provided for educational research, and the manner in which that research is conducted."-John Keeves The Flinders University of South Australia
"Biddle and Saha show that the highly negative view of educational research is larely myth, and certainly is not based on serious studies of what goes on in schools and what key school-based professionals really think about educational research....To my mind, this is by far the most important recent contribution to discussion of the use made of educational research....It changes the whole debate and has major imlications for government support of educational research and what strategies educational researchers might best employ to disseminate the results of their work....[t]he findings from Biddle and Saha's work demonstrates that school principals in both Australia and America have positive attitudes to educational research. They find research useful, they are well informed about key research traditions and findings, and they can report incidents of the application of research knowlage in their schools."-Campus Review
Biddle and Saha show that the highly negative view of educational research is larely myth, and certainly is not based on serious studies of what goes on in schools and what key school-based professionals really think about educational research....To my mind, this is by far the most important recent contribution to discussion of the use made of educational research....It changes the whole debate and has major imlications for government support of educational research and what strategies educational researchers might best employ to disseminate the results of their work....[t]he findings from Biddle and Saha's work demonstrates that school principals in both Australia and America have positive attitudes to educational research. They find research useful, they are well informed about key research traditions and findings, and they can report incidents of the application of research knowlage in their schools.-Campus Review
Given the accumulation over the last 20 years of growing evidence that principals are pivotal to the improvement of student learning, combined with the recognition of this fact and a call for "scientifically based" practices in the No Child Left Behind Act, Bibble and Saha offer timely recommendations that can enchance the use of research knowledge for educational renewal.-NASSP Bulletin
"Given the accumulation over the last 20 years of growing evidence that principals are pivotal to the improvement of student learning, combined with the recognition of this fact and a call for "scientifically based" practices in the No Child Left Behind Act, Bibble and Saha offer timely recommendations that can enchance the use of research knowledge for educational renewal."-NASSP Bulletin

Author Bio

BRUCE J. BIDDLE is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and of Sociology, the University of Missouri. LAWRENCE J. SAHA is Reader in Sociology, the Australian National University.