Module 4 discussion topics and concepts

¶ … immensely important for school leaders and most education professionals to understand the evidence base and theory behind educational practice. Their cognizance of such theory helps to provide a degree of continuity in the entire educational process -- the culmination of which is the quality of education a child receives. Pedagogues play a fundamental role in that process, as do a host of other factors including the facilities, parental involvement, instructional strategies, and evidence-based practices. When instructors familiarize themselves with the evidence that influences eminent government mandated and funded programs such as the No Child Left Behind Act, they can better understand the reasons for the theories developed from such data. That understanding can guide them in a number of ways of actually implementing that knowledge and deriving actionable insight from research, in addition to being compliant with federal policy (Kretlow and Blatz, 2011, p. 8).

This process of deriving actionable insight from research is actually at the core of what educators and a bevy of other professionals (such as those involved in health care, for example) are truly tasked with doing. The world is constantly changing as are the people within it; methods to most effectively reach those people, to not only educate them but also to influence their lives, are changing as well. The most reliable way to stay abreast of those changes and to perhaps anticipate them and even curate them in a positive way is by employing a methodology in which research supports theory, and that theory then is practiced to maximize results. It would be disadvantageous for instructors to only practice such theory without being well acquainted with it or with the research that spawned it. By edifying their own backgrounds with the evidence base that supports programs such as the No Child Left Behind Act, pedagogues are better able to further the aims of that act and to actually improve upon them by creating both tangible and intangible methods of implementation that benefit the children so "the highest quality of teaching and learning can happen" (Markusic, 2012).

There are a couple of different ways in which pedagogues and those studying to be pedagogues can expedite the process of gaining access to the evidence base that fuels mandates such as the No Child Left Behind Act. One of the most readily accessible ways is thorugh networking with one's peers. There are a number of professional organizations that are specifically designed for educational instructors that provide a bevy of journal articles, forums, and conferences in which like-minded professionals share their insight and experience into some of the latest practices relevant to this profession -- and to the theory that spawns these practices. Simply enrolling in such an organization can expedite the means by which one becomes more aware of the evidence base that fuels educational practices. However, this same process can be facilitated online through social networking sites and databases that disseminate information pertaining to pedagogy. Additionally, instructors can merely network with their own circle of teachers and comrades that they interact with daily at their school's location to find out about and spread knowledge related to educational practices and their evidence base.