In his message about professional development accountability David Rosen
said that
Quote: True professional development accountability would be built on what
we know about good practice from many classroom studies." Unquote He then
goes on to list what he considers to be the criteria of research that would
support professional knowledge about good practice from many classroom
studies.

Fortunately,  there is a body of research that includes studies which,
considered as a body of work, does meet David's stated criteria. Research
on what I have called Functional Context Education is summarized in my
workshop on Functional Context Education (FCE) and includes historical
research on a hundred years of professional wisdom supporting FCE concepts
and principles. It then reviews a body of quasi-experimental research
("silver standard" - i.e., experimental versus comparison group, without
random assignments) that provides evidence for FCE principles. This
includes research in the military context, including both Army and Navy
research using teachers, texts, computers and peers, research in vocational
ESL in a community college context, research on "what works" in ESL,
research on entry level workplace basic skills education in the Federal
Reserve bank in Boston, and research in numerous programs of "embedded
instruction" in the United Kingdom that follow the FCE principles,
particularly the one that states, ". Integrate instruction in basic skills
(reading, math) into programs as  the course poses demands for these skills
that potential students may not possess." All of the foregoing studies use
treatment and comparison group designs.

For more about FCE and this body of professional wisdom and
quasi-experimental, "silver standard" research see the following:

For professional wisdom and scientific research on Functional Context
Education go to
www.nald.ca/fulltext/fce/cover.htm and see Functional Context Education:
Making Learning Relevant in the 21st Century.

Casey, H. et. al (2006, November). "You wouldn't expect a maths teacher to
teach plastering  " online at www.nrdc.org.uk.

Condelli, L. & Wrigley, H. (2004) Real World Research: Combining
Qualitative and Quantitative Research for Adult ESL. Paper presented at the
National Research and Development Centre (NRDC) Second International
Conference for Adult Literacy and Numeracy, Loughborough, England.
Downloaded from the internet April 3, 2007 from
http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/attachments/20070401/dea5b0a7/attachment-0002.doc

Sticht, T., McDonald, B., & Erickson, P. (1998). Passports to Paradise: The
Struggle To Teach and To Learn on the Margins of Adult Education. El Cajon,
CA: Applied Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Inc., (this was available
online at www.searchERIC.org, I don't know if it still is).

Sticht, T., Armstrong, W., Hickey, D., & Caylor, J. (1987). Cast-off youth:
policies and training methods from the military experience. NY: Praeger.

Tom Sticht