Barriers Exist in the Development of Research

¶ … barriers exist in the development of research in the classroom environment. First and foremost, the issue of confidentiality of the children must be respected. Secondly, the research must be designed to serve the children. Children cannot be used as 'test subjects' in experiments. The school district has an obligation to educate its students and cannot create 'control groups' that do not receive the benefits of education, to contrast with the experiences of children who are receiving a particular intervention. Although some 'experimental groups' can be created, the interventions must be relatively limited, so as to not impede the educational process of either the children in the experimental group or the control group. There is an additional ethical question of what should be done if it is discovered that there are serious problems at the school, regarding the student's education: do the researchers have an obligation to intervene?

Parents must also be actively involved in the research. They must give their consent for their children to participate and they must be made to feel as if their children's education is enhanced by the experience, rather than inhibited. Teachers must also be willing participants, and not feel as if the classroom experience they wish to bestow upon the children they teach is being interfered with, because of the demands of research. Finally, there is the question of how the research may be used. Experimental research regarding the use of specific tests or programs that may be questionable in value should not be used to make major decisions regarding student placement, nor should it be used to pass judgment on the school as a whole. Administrators need to be reassured that research is being conducted for informational purposes, not for punitive reasons against students, teachers, or the school. Strict adherence to research protocols is necessary to overcome these structural barriers. Appropriate consent must be solicited of all participants, and administrators must understand how and why the research will be used.

One potential solution to the problem of research in the classroom is allowing teachers to perform their own assessments. However, the question of bias inevitably arises: teachers may create instruments that are tailored to their own instructional style. There is also the issue of standardization. The more individualized the test, the more difficult it is to engage in comparison of different classrooms, and to compare students' results with state and national norms. Outside consultants may be more objective, but the types of standardized assessments they use may not take into consideration the full range of individualized needs at the school (such as the number of ESL students, students with special needs, etcetera).