Science and Students with Learning and Behavioral Problems

Abstract

Science governs how impressively effective disciplines, such as medicine and engineering, work, how they make decisions, how they collaborate, and how they are regulated by professional and other public and private organizations. Science, and the production of trustworthy empirical evidence, plays a central role in advancing the production of new knowledge in these disciplines. In contrast, education is not impressively effective. It is not approached scientifically, and empirical evidence does not drive its work, decision making, or regulation. Yet, a science of learning and behavior does exist, based on the pursuit of empirical evidence and dedicated to solving some of society's most daunting social problems, including the concerns of special education. This science is viewed through the lens of a 35-year collaboration of university scientists with residents of an inner-city economically impoverished community—The Juniper Gardens Children's Project (JGCP). From its founding in 1964 as a community-university partnership, the JGCP mission has been to conduct research designed to improve the developmental/educational experiences of children and families and to improve the academic, social, and health achievements of area children. Instead of adopting one of the popular approaches designed to study the community (e.g., sociological survey), the approach selected sought to accumulate evidence from efforts to intervene in order to improve measurable outcomes. This scientific approach and its outcomes are described, and implications are discussed.