Opening your door to research

Whenever we read, “research says . . . ,” we assume that what follows is synonymous with good instruction, assessment, or practice. However, given the differences among communities, schools, classrooms, and teachers, that same phrase can be used to turn those differences into deficits. For example, counting the number of words spoken to young children by their caregivers turned into the concept of “the word gap” (Hart & Risely, 1995). But now the word gap is used to blame young children growing up in poverty for entering school already behind their middle- and upper-class peers. The notion of grit, the personality characteristic that claims to help students tough out difficulty, is another example of research turning differences into deficit. Growth mindsets research from which grit comes is robust work (Dweck, 2007). But now children of color and children growing up in poverty who have difficulty in school are blamed for not having enough grit to succeed.

Teachers in classrooms often object when research labels their students or their teaching or when claims that “research says . . . ” actual lack any evidence of that research. So when a researcher comes knocking, we can understand that teachers might hesitate to answer the door. Yet answering can be valuable. Actively choosing who walks into your classroom to do research brings you into the conversation about research-based instruction. This can be good for your teaching by empowering you to reflect on and improve your practice (David & Zoch, 2015).

We’d like to demystify the formal research process for educators. Ann is a former high school English language arts teacher who is now an assistant professor of education teaching preservice middle and high school teachers; Melody is a former bilingual Spanish/English elementary teacher who now teaches literacy education courses at the university level. We frame our discussion of research participation with stories — both positive and negative — of two teachers’ experiences. Our work with the teachers began as two separate ethnographic studies of their teaching practices, so we spent a lot of time in their classrooms and interviewed them multiple times. Both teachers saw participation as advocating for good teaching and contributing to the larger community of researchers. They also found it valuable for reflecting on their practice (Schön, 1987).