Data Gathering at the Dawn of the Regional Education Labs

Although our ability to access data about education has grown exponentially over the last decade, the central question of what to do with all the numbers and figures—and of what they really measure in the first place—has been vexing educators since the first batch of test results came in from the field. In the November 1966 issue of Educational Leadership, David Turney, assistant dean at Kent State University, takes on the issue of data quality by exploring where data come from, who gathers them, and how they are put to use.

Read the article: Why Not Use the Data We Already Have? (PDF)

Turney notes that the vast majority of research studies are completed by graduate students, not seasoned researchers. The problem is twofold: First, graduate students often lack the skills of veteran researchers, so their results can be unreliable. Second, the studies represent the narrow interest of the student and may not directly address a fundamental research need. This latter issue, according to Turney, is also present in funded research where university professors design studies around idiosyncratic specialties. He urges researchers, with the help of the then-new regional educational laboratories (REL), to identify problems of crucial significance and then collect data that would have real-world applications.

Data collection has certainly evolved over the last 50 years, but many of Turney's concerns still resonate today. His analysis raises thought-provoking questions as educators seek to incorporate hard research into their practice.

In "My Back Pages," we look at important issues through the historical lens of the Educational Leadership archives. ASCD members have access to EL issues from 1943 to the present by signing in to ASCD's Web site.