AI is making our work as educators easier and often better. However, it can also tempt us to chase hype without grounding practice in research. The antidote is simple, not easy: evidence-based teaching.
Staying current with scholarship in your subject and in pedagogy (in general) has always been a cornerstone of effective teaching. The pace of change is real.
Today’s classrooms look nothing like those at the start of the millennium. New modes of learning are emerging, and our practice must adapt. Adaptation should be guided by established research. That is the point of evidence-based teaching.
Related: Culturally Responsive Teaching Simply Explained
What is Evidence-based Teaching?
Hunter (2017) characterizes evidence-based teaching functionally: Teachers plan lessons using existing research and engage in disciplined inquiry with their own classroom data.
He also leans on Davies (1999) to frame two levels of evidence use and urges all teachers to both critically read research and conduct action research locally.
- Use trustworthy research and your own classroom evidence to make and evaluate instructional decisions. (Knight, 2020)
- “Integrating individual teaching and learning expertise with the best available external evidence from systematic research.” (Davies, 1999, p. 117)
- EBE is a set of principles and practices to improve policy and practice, not a quick fix.(Davies, 1999)
Davies (1999) also defines EBE as a set of principles and practices to improve policy and practice, not a quick fix
Why EBT Matters?
EBT is important because it makes teaching more effective, fair, and scalable, while keeping teacher judgment at the center. It is not a script. It is a disciplined way to decide. Here are some of the reasons why EBT matter in today’s teaching and learning environment:
- Better results: You choose approaches with a track record instead of gambling on fashion or folklore.
- Faster iteration: Evidence gives you feedback loops, so you stop doing what does not work and double down on what does.
- Equity by design: Data surfaces which learners benefit and who is being left behind, so support is targeted instead of generic.
- Professionalism: It turns teaching from craft-only to craft plus scholarship, with shared methods and transparent reasoning.
- Resource efficiency: Time and budgets shift from low-yield activities to high-impact practice.
- Accountability with nuance: You can justify choices without reducing everything to test scores, because evidence includes multiple forms.
- Transfer and scale: What works in one room can be replicated and adapted elsewhere, because the logic and the measures are explicit.
- Protection against guruism: Claims must survive scrutiny, not just charisma.
Research Vs Inquiry
Hunter (2017) notes that many programs blur the terms, using “research” and “inquiry” interchangeably. In contrast, his own framing treats research as using established studies to plan teaching, and inquiry as disciplined, local evidence-making with one’s own student data (often via action research).
Levels of EBT
According to Davies (1999, see also Hunter, 2017), EBT operates at two levels of evidence use:
- Use existing evidence: Teachers act as critical consumers: read and apply trustworthy studies, syntheses, and reviews to guide instruction and decisions.
- Produce new evidence: Teachers act as practitioner-researchers: run disciplined, local inquiries (e.g., action research) so practice is informed by their own data. Davies labels this “level 2,” aiming for research that is scientifically valid, high quality, and practically relevant
EBT Best Practices
All teachers should read research critically and run small-scale action research to inform local decisions, not just rely on general findings (Hunter, 2017). The following is a collection of tups synthesized from reading the literature to help you make the best of EBT:
- Plan lessons from existing research, not hunches. Use online sources across education, humanities, and social sciences.
- Pair that with disciplined inquiry: collect and analyze your own classroom data on students’ needs, expectations, and prior learning.
- Build two core capacities: read research critically and run small-scale action research in your school to inform local decisions.
- Treat “data literacy” as decision-making, not just assessment mechanics; apply data to guide instruction and policy choices.
- Let scientific methods inform practice; take the science seriously enough to adapt its disciplined approaches to teaching.
- Where possible, work within structures that support action research (e.g., practicum or mentor-partnered inquiries).
EBT quick process (Davies, 1999)
Here is a step-by-step process of how to go about incorporating EBT in your teaching practice:
- Frame an answerable question.
- Search systematically for the best external evidence.
- Appraise quality and grade the strength of findings.
- Judge local relevance; there is no context-free evidence.
- Act: implement with clear success criteria and monitor.
- If evidence is thin, generate new evidence and share it.
- Throughout, combine professional judgement with research.
- Feed results back into the commons (reviews, registries, CPD).
References
- Davies, P. (1999). What is evidence-based education? British Journal of Educational Studies, 47(2), 108–121.
- Hunter, W. J. (2017). Evidence-based teaching in the 21st century: The missing link. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation, 40(2), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.2307/90010108.
- Knight, R. (2020). Classroom talk. Routledge.
- Philpott, C., & Poultney, V. (2018). Evidence-based teaching: A critical overview for enquiring teachers. Routledge.
