Reading Educational Research: How to Avoid Getting Statistically Snookered

by Gerald W. Bracey

Gerald Bracey's primer on statistics comes out exactly when we need it when school folks are being driven crazy by the bureaucrats' insistence on "data-driven" everything. But Bracey makes clear that data is rarely what it seems, and that both its producers and its users need to be much more sophisticated about what it is and isn't.
Susan Harman, Principal, Growing Children School, California Stats, stats, stats. It seems everything written about education today is full of stats. Stats about reading and writing competency; stats about graduation and retention rates; stats comparing U.S. students to other countries' students; stats about how many students meet state education mandates. With so many numbers in education these days, how do you discern what's data and what's dada? With Reading Education Research , nimble-minded number cruncher and award-winning researcher Gerald Bracey takes your hand and walks you through the process of figuring out the meaning behind the figures. You don't need to be a math whiz to follow Bracey because he writes with clarity and humor, explicitly defining statistical terminology in easy-to-understand language and even offering you thirty-two specific principles for assessing the quality of research as you read it. Reading Education Research includes four major themes that every classroom teacher will find helpful as they read research and talk about it with colleagues, parents, or administrators, Don't be numbed by the numbers or get hung up on histograms. Before you read another piece of educational research, get Reading Education Research and let Gerald Bracey guide you to a firm understanding of the story behind the stats.

Genres: Education

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2006

Reviews

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't particularly enjoy reading statistics. Believing that not everything is measurable with a number, I take a critical stance when it comes to numeric representations of truth. For this reason, I've stayed as far from statistical research as possible up to this point. However, PhD students are put in uncomfortable positions sometimes where they are forced to go somewhere they don't really want to go. Thus, this semester is a study of statistics. This book came as one of the recommended (not required) textbooks in my introductory statistics course. Knowing that this is an area of need for me, I decided it would be best to read more about it.

What I found in this text was an easy to read, critical, informative book. Bracey shows how useful statistics are when used in the right way. Statistics are part of the puzzle, useful when interpreted according to what they actually say. The author gives plenty of clear definitions and examples for a novice statistician. A fair look at statistics and the appropriate and inappropriate ways they've been used in the American education system, Bracey gives the reader much more to think about than just numbers.

This book is marked up with my usual highlights and remarks, but I took it one step further and tagged important pages as well. This one will be right beside me as I work through my dissertation proposal and draft. I'm so thankful that my professor recommended this book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is hardly a book to curl to curl up with on a Saturday afternoon but I think all teachers should read the fourth chapter, Testing: A Major Source of Data and Maybe Child Abuse. The information it provides about the current testing culture is incredibly valuable.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teacher of AP Statistics, I appreciated the clear explanations of the basic concepts needed to understand educational research. I found the examples interesting and, in many cases, startling, given the national drive for "data driven decision making" and increasing standardized testing. I've been uncomfortable with both of these trends and now I know why. Politicians and policy makers should read this book before they impose any more testing on American children! Sadly, the author, Gerald W. Bracey, died suddenly on October 22, 2009. He was a thoughtful, vibrant voice in the area of research in education.

[Ranya · Rating 4 out of 5]

you'll never read statistics the same way again

[Cherene · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was easy to read, but the author has very strong opinions about education that he presents as facts.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for Inquiry I --- very helpful for qualitative and quantitative information.

[Kellie Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for SPSS training, but I'm not exactly passionate about statistics.