ABSTRACT
During the fourth phase of EER, it was acknowledged that the ultimate aims of the field were not only the identification of associative and stronger causeand-effect relations and the development of plausible empirically supported theories explaining the processes of educational effectiveness, but also to have a positive impact by informing policy and practice (Creemers and Kyriakides 2006). Since EER was previously mainly concerned with searching for evidence of existing effective practices rather than making use of a knowledge base to improve practice, this is an important shift in the research agenda and we here deal with methodological issues that have arisen from this. In this chapter, it is argued that theory-driven evaluation studies can be used to provide new links between EER and policy and practice. For this reason, the main features of this approach are described and it is demonstrated how EER creates such new linkages. Moreover, it is shown that EER can influence the design of different types of evaluation studies so that in-depth answers concerning why specific reform policies are more or less effective can be provided to policymakers (Creemers and Van der Werf 2000). This can help us establish an evidencebased approach in policymaking and a theory-driven approach in improving education (see also Chapter 6). Finally, it is claimed that evaluation studies should contribute to the development of a theoretical framework of educational effectiveness since data emerging from such studies will help us understand better its complex and dynamic nature. In order to design theory-driven evaluation studies that can achieve the main purposes described, the methodological orientations presented in the second part of the book should be taken into account by both researchers and evaluators.
