Teacher Perceptions of the Useability of Intervention Information from Personal versus Data-based Sources

One prominent issue in contemporary special education is that teaching techniques found by research to be effective in improving the educational outcomes of students with disabilities are not routinely implemented. One way to enhance teachers' use of research-based practices is to disseminate information on effective teaching techniques in ways that teachers find "useable;" that is, in a manner that enables teachers to understand how the technique can be used in their classrooms with their students. We investigated teachers' perceptions of the useability of information describing the effectiveness of reading interventions presented in two formats: data-based (emphasizing research findings) and personal (based on the personal experiences of a veteran teacher). 127 general and special education teachers attending graduate courses at two large mid-western universities participated in the study. A 2 X 2 ANCOVA indicated statistically significant effects related to (a) the covariate of teaching experience (more experienced teachers tended to feel that the information presented was less useable, regardless of format) and (b) information format (teachers rated the personal format as more useable than data-based information). Implications of these findings for how information on research-based teaching techniques is disseminated to teachers are discussed.