Including Evidence-Based Strategies and Supports in IEP Development

ESE 668

Evidence-Based Strategies

Evidence-based practice is a type of intervention which foundations are based on extensive research. Many students learn differently and the best way to teach them is to use the correct strategy based on scientific research. When it comes to special education, EBP is important because it helps educators know which strategies will be the most effective for a student or group of students. Evidence-based strategies need to meet a certain criterion in order to be labeled as EBP. There are many sources that provide EBP for every grade level and for students with special needs. Evidence-based strategies are important for special education because it provides educators with the most reliable strategy to teach students with disabilities

Evidence-Based Practice in Special Education

“Evidence-based practices are those effective educational strategies supported by evidence and research” (Evidence-based Practices in Instruction, n.d.). Educators are always searching for different methods to teach their students therefore in order to support their strategies they sometimes use formative assessments which helps monitor the effectiveness of the strategy. EBP is not only based on scientific research but also in its quality, quantity, and effectiveness of strategy. There are many benefits of EBP in the field of special education such as positive student outcome, less time wasted on searching for a strategy that might work and increases its effectiveness on student’s needs.

Determining Evidence-Based Practice

Determining what is considered EBP can be complicated since there are a vast variety of strategies that claim to be evidence based. “Evidence-based practices is a complicated enterprise that requires analyzing the methodological quality and magnitude of the available research supporting specific practices” (Cook, Tankersley & Landrum, n.d.). There is a criterion that determines if the strategy is evidence based. These criteria include providing ample information on context or setting, description of participants, critical information regarding the person administering the strategy, description of material used and procedures, description of how the strategy was implemented and for how long, and clear description of dependent variable(Council for Exceptional Children Standards for Evidence-Based Practice in Special Education, n.d.). It can be difficult to determine what EBP to use and how to determine its quality, but the EBP needs to have clear and concise description of how the strategy was tested.

Importance of Evidence-Based Practice

In special education, learning is different and searching for strategies can be difficult when trying to find more than one strategy. Evidence-based strategies facilitate teachers on finding what strategy is best for a single student or for a group of students. Since there are many strategies that might work teachers focus on evidence-based strategies that provide sufficient evidence of scientific research. Students with disabilities need effective strategies that will help them reach their educational goal and to reach this goal educators need to use evidence-based practice. Using EBP educators have the confidence that the strategy will help the student reach their full potential because EBP has provided extensive scientific research that the strategy works.

Evidence-Based Practice resource

In the web or in books there are many resources that provide a variety of EBP’s but one of the sources that I find the most interesting is a website called “What Works Clearinghouse”. This website provides evidence-based strategies in many educational areas such as literacy, math, science, behavior, children and youth with disabilities, English Learners, and early childhood. For example, in Literacy there are several interventions and its categorized by effectiveness, name of intervention and grades that were examined. This resource also provides the option to compare interventions and help you decide which strategy to use.

How will I incorporate EBP?

EBP is an advantage for my future career because it helps educators decide which strategy to use based on extensive scientific research. My future career is a special education teacher and incorporating EBP into my teachings will be challenging but it will help me decided what strategies are best for my students.

In conclusion EBP can supplement special education because it provides substantial research of educational strategies. In many cases teachers have issues on deciding what strategies to use for a student or group of students and with the help of EBP educators can make a decision depending on research provided. Therefore, EBP will benefit teachers and students because it makes it easier to choose what strategy will create a positive outcome.

Cook, B. G., Tankersley, M., & Landrum, T. J. (n.d.). Determining Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education – Bryan G. Cook, Melody Tankersley, Timothy J. Landrum, 2009. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001440290907500306

Evidence-based Practices in Instruction. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ccrs.osepideasthatwork.org/teachers-academic/evidence-based-practices-instruction