July 5, 2013

I will never forget attending the birthday party of a friend's five-year-old and seeing him receive a Frisbee with "World's Fastest Frisbee" written on the packaging. The little boy was ecstatic and ready to throw it immediately. His sister, then nine, looked at the package and studied it with an intense look on her face and said, "How do they know it is the world's fastest? Did they test it? Who says? I want to see the research to back that up!" All I could do was laugh. It is not often that a nine-year-old asks to see the research. She did make a good point, though.

The concept of research and best practice is one that educators are expected to embrace. If a teaching practice or strategy is going to be used to bring our students to the next level, we want to know that it is proven to be effective. Recent requirements at both state and national levels have educators searching for best practices in teaching and learning to meet the various needs of all students.

So, where is the research to support Daily 5 and CAFE? It is everywhere. We can find it when exploring effective differentiation practices, current brain research, successful literacy instruction, valuable formative assessment, and sound teaching practices. Daily 5 and CAFE were created based on the research of experts in teaching, learning, and science.

At this point we have numerous teachers, schools, and districts that have shared their results with us. They speak to the successes they have encountered in increased student achievement, improved behavior, and enhanced literacy engagement. Many teachers choose to do their masters thesis on Daily 5/CAFE and some have shared those with us. Now it is time for us to enlarge this study. Would you like to be part of it? We'd love to have your help. Our hopes are that with a large number of responses, we will be able to provide one more piece of support when someone asks you, "Where is the research to support that?"

To be a part of our research on teachers' perceptions of Daily 5 and CAFE, take five minutes to answer the following survey. Thank you!