BES (Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis) Programme

The touchstone of the programme is its focus on explaining and optimising influences on a range of desired outcomes for diverse learners. The series of BESs is designed to be a catalyst for systemic improvement and sustainable development in education.

Contents Current Projects Commentary on BES: Highlights Recent BES-related articles BES Conference, Working & OECD Papers BES Development Guidelines Evidence Based Policy Project School leadership in a school-home partnership: Reading Together at St Joseph’s School Otahuhu National Sites of Interest New Zealand Education Theses Database International Sites of Interest

Publications

What's New:

The School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why Best Evidence Synthesis iteration is the latest BES in the series, has been launched on 4 November 2009 and available here from 5 November 2009.

Robinson, V., Hohepa, M. and Lloyd, C.   (2009).  School Leadership and Student   Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why focuses on the influence of school leadership on student outcomes. This BES identifies the leadership activities that make a greater difference for students. The findings of the BES provide direction for leaders about where they can most effectively invest their time.

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The following summaries are based on the key findings of both the Teacher Professional Learning and Development Best Evidence Synthesis and the Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics Pāngarau Best Evidence Synthesis.  The summaries have been published by the International Academy of Education and the International Bureau of Education as a part of their international commitment to fostering and making accessible scholarly excellence in all fields of education.  The summaries are available electronically at:

Timperley, H. (2008). Teacher professional learning and development. Educational Practice Series – 18. International Academy of Education & International Bureau of Education Paris. UNESCO. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/Educational_Practices/EdPractices_18.pdf

Anthony, G., & Walshaw, M. (2009). Effective pedagogy in mathematics. Educational Practice Series – 19. International Academy of Education & International Bureau of Education Paris. UNESCO. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/services/publications/educational-practices.html
 
Readers will find these summaries are very useful introductions to the content of each of the best evidence syntheses which are also available electronically.

The Social Sciences Tikanga ā Iwi Best Evidence Synthesis iteration was published in 2008. It focuses on factors that influence valued outcomes through teaching in the social sciences/ tikanga ā iwi. The BES identified four mechanisms of “what works”:

1. Connections: Making connections to students’ lives through content that is relevant and inclusive;
2. Alignment: Aligning experiences to important outcomes by identifying prior knowledge; aligning activities and resources to intended outcomes; providing opportunities to revisit concepts and learning processes; and, attending to the learning of individual students;
3. Community: Building and sustaining a learning community by establishing productive teacher-student relationships; promoting dialogue; and, sharing power with students; and,
4. Interest: Designing experiences that interest students. This is achieved through meeting diverse motivational needs; maximising student interest; and, using a variety of activities.
   

The Social Sciences Tikanga ā Iwi BES is available for order. Please email best.evidence@minedu.govt.nz [no spam] with your details.

The main outputs of the Iterative BES Programme are Best Evidence Synthesis Iterations (BESs). Each BES is available from the BES publication homepage. To date eight BESs have been completed.

8. School Leadership and Student Outcomes by Robinson, V., Hohepa, M. and Lloyd, C.

7. Social Sciences Tikanga a Iwi by Aitken, G. and Sinnema, C.

6. Teacher Professional Learning and Development by H. Timperley et al

The other BESs focus on:

5. Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pangarau by G. Anthony & M. Walshaw

4. Professional Development in Early Childhood Settings by L. Mitchell & P. Cubey

3. Community and Family Influences on Children's Achievement by F, J & C. Biddulph

2. Quality Teaching: Early Foundations S. Farquhar

1. Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schooling by A. Alton-Lee

Current Project

The latest BES to be completed is School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why, launched on 4 November 2009.

Commentary on BES: Highlights

The 2007 Headley Beare Award for Educational Writing was presented to Professor Viviane Robinson by the Australian Council of Educational Leaders (ACEL) in October 2007.  Professor Robinson presented the 2007 ACEL William Walker Oration: School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why

The 2006 edition of the World Education Yearbook describes New Zealand's Iterative BES Programme "as the most comprehensive approach to evidence" and goes on to say: "What is distinctive about the New Zealand approach is its willingness to consider all forms of research evidence regardless of methodological paradigms and ideological rectitude, and its concern in finding...effective, appropriate and locally powerful examples of 'what works'".

Luke, A, & Hogan, D. (2006). Redesigning what counts as evidence in educational policy: The Singapore model. In J. Ozga, T. Seddon, & T. Popkewitz Eds., World Yearbook of Education: Educational Research and Policy: Steering the knowledge-based economy (pp. 173-4). London: Routledge.

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PPTA regards itself as a partner in the BES programme. I believe that the BES programme is absolutely committed to promoting social justice, and for that reason our union, like NZEI, has committed itself to working alongside this research programme. The whole diversity framework that is an intrinsic part of BES (see the Guidelines) guides our thinking and our critiquing of work in progress, and the analysis of diversity that is being used is a very sophisticated and sensitive model light years away from the concept of diversity reflected in much other research work. Ensuring that teaching addresses issues of diversity is fundamental to promoting social justice in education .

Judie Alison , Advisory Officer
(Professional Issues) Post Primary Teachers’ Association 23 February 2006

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I am impressed with what I have seen here in your country of the Ministry seeking to get that kind of coordination, and consensus, but in an outreaching kind of way rather than just bringing in an elite group to make decisions and push them downward. They are actively getting input from all sorts of stakeholders and seeking to negotiate as broad a consensus as possible and that is the way to do it.

Professor Jere Brophy, formative quality assurer for the Effective Pedagogy in Social Studies/ Social Sciences/ Tikanga- ā -iwi BES ( December 16, 2005 ).

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“The broader policy and leadership literature strongly indicates that the improvement of mathematics instruction at the level of scale being attempted in New Zealand is not solely a matter of providing high quality teacher professional development. It also has to be framed as a problem for schools as educational organizations that structure the institutional settings in which teachers develop and revise the ir instructional practices. On my reading of this Best Evidence Synthesis of Effective Pedagogy in Pangarau/Mathematics, Anthony and Walshaw have distilled valuable lessons from the available research, thereby positioning New Zealand educators to succeed where others have failed”.

Professor Paul Cobb, Foreword to Effective Pedagogy in Pangarau/Mathematics BES (December, 2006)

Recent BES-related articles

Alton-Lee, A. (2007). The Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme: Collaborative knowledge building and use across research, policy and practice in education. In CERI Evidence in education: Linking research and policy. Paris: OECD.

This paper provides an in-depth discussion of the application of best evidence synthesis findings to research, policy and practice in education.

Timperley, H., & Alton-Lee, A. (2008). Reframing teacher professional learning: An alternative policy approach to strengthening valued outcomes for diverse learners. Review of Research in Education 32, 328 – 369.

This paper dicusses significant findings from the Teacher Professional Learning and Development best evidence synthesis and their application to increasing the effectiveness of teacher professional learning that will enable improved outcomes for diverse learners.

Alton-Lee, A. (2008). Designing and supporting teacher professional development to improve valued student outcomes. Invited paper, General Assembly of Fellows of the International Academy of Education, Limassol, Cyprus, 26th September.

This paper discusses the ways in which teacher professional development could be developed in order to positively enhance student outcomes for diverse students.

 

BES Conference, Working & OECD Papers

Title	Delivered at	Downloads
It's Time for a New Learning Agenda in Policy, Research and Practice in Education: Making a Bigger Difference in Desired Educational Outcomes for Diverse Learners through Collaborative Cultures of Inquiry and Development	31st Conference of the Pacific Circle Consortium: 'Education in a Pacific Circle Context: Educational Outcomes for the Twenty-first Century', 25-29 June 2007, Hawaii. The Pacific Circle Consortium.	[File size: 308KB] Pacific Circle Consortium [File size: 363KB] Pacific Circle Consortium
Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis: Strengthening Research, Policy and Practice Links to Improve Outcomes	4th Annual Policy Conference: Policy Evolution 29 March, 2006	[File size: 476KB] Research, Policy and Practice Links [File size: 363KB] Research, Policy and Practice Links
Collaborating across Policy, Research and Practice: Knowledge Building for Sustainable Educational Development	OECD/Netherlands Evidence Based Policy Research Conference Linking Evidence to Practice The Hague, September 14-15, 2005	[File size: 387KB] Collaborating Across Policy [File size: 230KB] Collaborating Across Policy
Quality Teaching: How an Evidence-Based Approach Can Help	Australian Curriculum Studies Association, Melbourne, 24 May 2005	[File size: 530KB] Quality Teaching [File size: 2.9MB] Quality Teaching
A Collaborative Knowledge Building Strategy To Improve Educational Policy and Practice: Work in Progress in the Ministry of Education's Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme	New Zealand Association for Research in Education, National Conference, Wellington, November 25, 2004	[File size: 349KB] Knowledge Building Strategy [File size: 186KB] Knowledge Building Strategy
Improving Education Policy and Practice through an Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme	OECD-US Seminar, Evidenced-Based Policy Research, Washington DC, April 19-20, 2004	[File size: 271KB] Education Policy and Practice [File size: 112KB] Education Policy and Practice

 

BES Development Guidelines

The Guidelines for Generating a Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration were developed in consultation with three national advisory groups in New Zealand in 2004; the BES Standards Reference Group, the BES Māori Educational Research Advisory Group and the BES Pasifika Educational Research Advisory Group. The Guidelines are subject to iterative review through the quality assurance process for each BES. When the current cohort of BESs is completed the Ministry of Education plans to review the Guidelines.

Guidelines for Generating a Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration 2004 [file size: 508KB]

Guidelines for Generating a Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration 2004 [file size: 571KB]

 

Evidence Based Policy Project

The Ministry of Education is committed to use evidence in all that we do,  to know what works in lifting achievement for learners and to use this knowledge to target resources for the greatest impact. 

BES Evidence Based Policy Project Report [Word, 622 KB]

BES Evidence Based Policy Project Report [PDF, 427 KB]

 

School leadership in a school-home partnership: Reading Together at St Joseph’s School Otahuhu

This study was commissioned by the Iterative BES Programme to inform the Educational Leadership (Schooling) BES. The study demonstrates that a scaling up tool used by school leadership staff working in partnership with parents can make a significant impact on reading achievement not only  for the children being worked with but also their siblings from 6 – 13 year olds in a Decile 1 90% Pasifika School.

Reading Together at St Joseph's School Otahuhu [file size: 2.65MB]

National Sites of Interest

The next phase of the Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme will focus on dissemination of the findings of the published best evidence reports and continuing to strengthen our thinking about effective use of BES.

For more information about how some leaders have been using BES see: http://www.leadspace.govt.nz/leadership/leading_learning/synthesis.php which reproduces an article published in the SPANZ (Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand) Journal (August 2004).

New Zealand Education Theses Database

The Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme has commissioned the New Zealand Council for Educational Research to produce a national database of New Zealand education theses. Work is in-progress to provide information about the theses and can be accessed at http://nzcer.org.nz/NZETbasic.php.

Historically, it has been difficult to access information about education theses because they are held in individual tertiary institutions. Many theses focus on New Zealand education but are held in the overseas universities that provided doctoral supervision. Through creating access to a national database of New Zealand education theses the Iterative BES Programme is seeking to support cumulative knowledge building and collaboration in educational research in order to strengthen policy and practice in New Zealand education.

 

International Sites of Interest

The International Academy of Education

The International Academy of Education is a not-for-profit scientific association that promotes educational research, its dissemination, and the implementation of its implications. Founded in 1986, the Academy is dedicated to strengthening the contributions of research, solving critical educational problems throughout the world, and providing better communication among policy makers, research and practitioners.

The general aim of the Academy is to foster scholarly excellence in all fields of education. Towards this end the Academy provides timely syntheses of research-based evidence of international importance. The Academy also provides critiques of research, its evidentiary basis, and its application to policy.

A primary project of the IAE has been the production of a series of summaries of syntheses of research that has implications for policy and practice in education.

Educational Practices Series Booklets- International Academy of Education with International Bureau of Education Series Editor: Jere Brophy, Herbert Walberg.

The following lists are links to PDF files available from the International Academy of Education  website, PDFs open up in a new window.

1. Teaching by Brophy, J.
2. Parents and Learning by Redding, S.
3. Effective Educational Practices by Walberg, H.J., & Paik, S.J.
4. Improving Student Achievement in Mathematics by Grouws, D.A., & Cebulla, K.J.
5. Tutoring by Topping, K.
6. Teaching Additional Languages by Judd, E.L., Tan, L., & Walberg, H.J.
7. How Children Learn by Vosniadou, S.
8. Preventing Behaviour Problems by Foster, S.L., Brennan, P., Biglan, A., Wang, L., & al-Ghaith, S.
9. Preventing HIV/AIDS in schools by Schenker, I.
10. Motivation to Learn by Boekaerts, M.
11. Academic and Social Emotional Learning by Elias, M.
12. Teaching Reading by Pang, S., & Muaka, A., & Bernhardt, E., & Kamil, M.
13. Promoting Pre-School Language by Lybolt, J., & Gottfred, C
14. Teaching Speaking, Listening and Writing by Wallace, T., Stariba, W.E., & Walberg, H.J.
15. Using New Media by Chung-wai Shih, C., & Weekly, D.E.
16. Creating a Safe and Welcoming School by Mayer, D.E.
17. Teaching Science by Staver, J.R.

Educational Policy Series Booklets- International Academy of Education with International Institute for Educational Planning. Series editor: Professor Erik Hanushek

	File Size
1. Accountability in education by Jo-Anne Anderson	[599KB]
2. Recruitment, retention and development of school principals by Judith D. Chapman	[682KB]
3. School-based management by Brian J Caldwell	[638KB]
4. Economic outcomes and school quality by Eric E Hanushek	[594KB]
5. Preparation, recruitment and retention of teachers by James Cooper and Amy Alvarado	[485KB]
6. Grade Repetition by Jere Brophy	[666KB]
7. Demand-side finances in Education by Harry Anthony Patrinos	[488KB]
8. Program evaluation: Large-scale and small-scale studies by Lorin W Anderson and T. Neville Postlethwaite	[630KB]

 

Contact Us

If you have any questions about BES, please contact us at:

Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis Programme
Ministry of Education
PO Box 1666
Thorndon, Wellington
New Zealand

Email: best.evidence@minedu.govt.nz

Phone: +64 4 463-7572
Fax: +64 4 463-8088