edited by Frederick Mosteller and Robert Boruch
2002
This solemn new Brookings volume, edited by Frederick Mosteller and Robert Boruch, is no page-turner but it's an important contribution to the evolution of education research by virtue of being perhaps the clearest guide yet to the merits and politics of "randomized field trials" (i.e. true experiments with proper control groups) in this policy domain. Eight mostly excellent chapters provide a solid grounding in what randomized field trials are, how they work, why they're desirable in education, why they're so seldom carried out, and what can be done in situations that don't lend themselves to this approach. 230 pages in toto, the ISBN is 0815702051 and you can learn more by surfing to http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/press/books/evidence_matters.htm. - Chester E. Finn, Jr.
