Evidence
EDU EVI101 01
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
The dilemmas we face as education professionals seeking to advance equity and opportunity require us to make sense of, evaluate, and prioritize different kinds of evidence. This course equips students with the foundational skills and knowledge they’ll need to interpret the most common forms of evidence in education settings and apply them to their practice. We ground our exploration of these issues in a persistent, pervasive, and provocative challenge: improving achievement in foundational academic subjects for lower secondary students in São Paulo, Brazil. We will use evidence to frame the problem, evaluate the quality and relevance of the evidence about possible solutions, and consider what additional evidence we would need to strengthen our conclusions. The course uses an innovative team-based learning pedagogy, including “flipped” lectures, whole- class discussion, and small-group activities. By the end of the course, students will be able to weigh the unique affordances of different types of evidence in making decisions about complex educational dilemmas and will acquire a powerful set of tools for analyzing and applying evidence to improve education systems.
Class Notes
August 11-22
Students may request to add or drop this course by emailing registrar@gse.harvard.edu. Add requests must be received by Sunday, August 10 at 11:59 pm EDT, and approval is dependent on space and instructor permission. Drop requests must be received by Monday, August 11 at 11:59 pm EDT.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
