Why innovate with education?

Pressley and Harris have correctly highlighted many unfortunate limits of educational intervention research and institutions for disseminating research reports. They have suggested useful changes in how intervention research is done, and, except possibly for their emphasis on faithful replication, they have argued correctly that the changes are feasible. Unfortunately, they represent educational intervention research as being important primarily as guidance for educational reformers. I argue that research does not guide educational intervention, and that even if it is improved in the required ways they suggest it will not guide educational innovation. Instead, the valuable function of their analysis is that it could improve the scientific quality of educational research.