Evidence Based Practice "with all deliberate speed"

Recently, I went to the Museum of Tolerance with my family. We walked through an exhibit on the history of school segregation (both Brown/White and Black/White). I came across this quote from the Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education. Just because laws change, it doesn't mean that people will "act right" all of a sudden. Schools changed "slowly and with great resistance."

The quote made me think of research-based and evidence-informed practices in both education and mental health. Taking the best of science and applying it to standard practices and interventions in both fields makes sense - I mean, don't all students have a civil right to this? But change has been slow and has been met with great resistance.


A couple of weeks ago, I spoke to an administrator from the Department of Mental Health who said there is a growing trend of anti-intellectualism among providers. I immediately registered his remark as an epistemological concern - that is, there are Masters-level and licensed clinicians who do not privilege research as an important, albeit limited, form of knowing.


I wondered what dynamics might be at play?

• Is this about a philosophy of knowledge?
• A collective temper tantrum in the face of change coming from the top?
• Are we scared to uncover that the way we have been doing things, ways that we have grown accustomed to, have become comfortable with and that we can do in our sleep, are not working or even harmful?

I don't mean harmful to life or limb. What I mean is,
if we pull students out of class and
don't offer them something that we believe (based on systematic evidence)
will reduce their specific cluster of symptoms and
accomplish their personalized and tailored academic and mental health goals and
evaluate whether this happens or not and
do something differently if not,
then we may have just wasted precious (life and instructional) time that our most vulnerable students cannot afford.


Poor and minority students of color have been lagging behind their white counterparts for far too long - on almost every important indicator in education, health, and mental health.


What our students need is the best, the very best and nothing but the best.


What we have been doing has not been good enough. We need better for every student, in every class, at every school, day-in and day-out, every year.


In the face of economic crisis and cut-backs, there is more to do with less.


So how do we make up for this slack?


Working ourselves to pieces is not an option.


This is where the research can help.


How do we do better with what we have?


Not more output - but more efficient, focused and effective output.


Giving up some old and traditional ways, in this case, will actually make things easier. And not everything needs to be thrown out with the bath water. There are some timeless practices that jibe with current research and can be integrated nicely.


Are you moving swiftly for social justice and social reform? Or is fear dragging your feet and throwing up resistance?


How do we do better with less? Let's put our hearts and brains together and figure this (s&*%) out (dammit).


This is how schools in the South managed to sit 3 students at a desk in the classroom when they only had 2 chairs.


Whatever we need to do for our students now, we can figure it out.