Studies on evidence-based decision-making has gained popularity globally, fueled by policy recommendations and the complex data now available to inform educators practice. However, the researchers and practitioners have raised several questions and concerns. A workshop was held at AERA's annual convention in 2018 to better understand the issues, followed by a literature analysis based on common misconceptions.

This commentary is an outgrowth of that exploration by providing research, theo-retical, and practical evidence to dispel some of the misconceptions. Our objective is to survey and synthesize thelandscape of the data-based decision making literature to address the identified misconceptions and then to serveas a stimulus to changes in policy and practice as well as a roadmap for a research agenda.

Ellen B. Mandinacha en Kim Schildkamp, 2018