As educational researchers and statisticians in Arkansas, our daily work revolves around analyzing data, building models, and interpreting outcomes. Much of our time is spent with state-level datasets, shaping decisions that impact students, educators, and schools across our state. This bird’s-eye view is powerful. It helps leaders make smarter decisions, reveals what’s working across classrooms and communities, and ensures that our educational systems are guided by evidence—not guesswork.
But here’s the thing:
Data tells us what is happening.
Stories tell us why it matters.
Behind every decimal point is a real moment in someone’s life. A child finally reading a book from cover to cover. A teacher testing a new technique and watching a struggling student light up. A parent discovering a program that opens doors their child didn’t even know existed.
These are the human victories tucked quietly between lines of code and regression tables. They’re the heartbeats behind the data.
Let’s not underestimate the power of these small but mighty moments. While they may not show up in national reports or big headlines, they’re the sparks that drive transformation. A pilot program with five students might become a district-wide model. A successful intervention could inspire new state legislation.
And the best part? These stories aren’t just heartwarming—they’re illuminating. They help us understand the numbers more deeply. They show how policies land in real classrooms, how strategies adapt in the hands of passionate educators, and how change starts one moment, one person at a time.
So yes, we’ll keep crunching the numbers. But let’s also keep listening, sharing, and lifting up the stories behind them. Because when research meets real life, that’s when the magic happens.
These aren’t just heartwarming moments. They’re the spark behind systemic change.
Why Small Wins Matter
Small successes are not anecdotes—they are the evidence of how big change begins.
Psychological research backs this up. In their groundbreaking work, Amabile and Kramer (2011) introduced the progress principle—the idea that recognizing incremental progress is one of the most powerful ways to boost engagement, persistence, and creativity.
And this principle isn’t limited to adults. Studies with young learners (Rittle-Johnson, Fyfe, & Loehr, 2016) show that experiencing success in problem-solving strengthens both conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge. These kinds of “small wins” in grasping mathematical ideas provide the foundation for deeper, longer-lasting learning.
Small wins aren’t just encouraging—they drive long-term success.
Every educator has seen it: a struggling student finally masters a tough concept, and suddenly, their entire approach to learning changes. That’s not a fluke—it’s neuroscience, motivation science, and educational research, all working together in real time.
The Power of Productive Struggle
Of course, progress isn’t always smooth—and that’s a good thing.
Struggle, when it’s productive and supported, deepens learning. It helps students build resilience, develop problem-solving skills, and retain knowledge over time. Far from being a setback, it’s one of the most effective ways to learn.
Struggle is not a setback; it’s a stepping stone.
Hiebert and Grouws (2007) found that students learn more deeply when they wrestle with complex tasks. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2014) calls productive struggle a cornerstone of equitable instruction, explaining that creating conditions where students persist rather than give up is essential. And neuroscience agrees—Bjork & Bjork (2020) describe these “desirable difficulties” as essential to creating lasting neural connections.
In short: when students are challenged—and supported—they thrive.
Zooming Out and Zooming In
Educational research works best when we balance both perspectives.
Zoom Out → Look at broad-scale studies. For example, state-level initiatives in Arkansas—such as the High-Impact Tutoring Pilot Program launched under the LEARNS Act—have begun reporting measurable gains in literacy and math through structured, small-group tutoring aligned with evidence-based practices (Arkansas Department of Education, 2025).
Zoom In → Dive into classroom narratives and case studies. Recent work from the University of Arkansas’s Clinic for Literacy highlights how pre-service teachers engaged in high-impact tutoring with 2nd graders, capturing the daily adaptations, student interactions, and teacher reflections that shape successful implementation (Young, Stanton, & Hutchins, 2024).
Together, these views give us a more complete picture. One tells us what’s happening system-wide; the other tells us how real people are living it.
Stories Are Data, Too
There’s a misconception that stories are soft, subjective, or somehow “less rigorous.” But in truth, well-documented narratives are a vital part of the research ecosystem.
Craig (2017) argues that qualitative data—stories, interviews, reflections—reveal the nuances that numbers can’t capture. They help us understand context, complexity, and meaning. A single student’s breakthrough can illuminate what hundreds of numbers cannot.
Stories also build empathy. They make data actionable. When policymakers hear about students’ experiences, those narratives put a human face on the numbers. And when we keep hearing similar stories echoed by different people, in different schools, and across different contexts, the accumulation becomes more than anecdote—it signals a pattern that deserves attention.
Why Implementation Stories Matter
In research, we often talk about fidelity of implementation—but in the real world, implementation rarely happens in a straight line. Two stories from the field illustrate why documenting those realities matters.
In one district I worked with, leaders purchased a highly regarded, research-based literacy program. The program came with a clear implementation protocol, but when it entered the school building, decisions were made to “make it fit” our classrooms and schedules. Whole components were shortened or skipped. Teachers did their best to adapt, but no one fully realized how those changes might undermine the program’s intended impact.
In another case, a math intervention program was rolled out with enthusiasm but quickly hit practical barriers: too few minutes in the day, too many students to serve, and competing priorities. Educators improvised—sometimes in brilliant ways, sometimes in ways that diluted the model. The lessons learned through that trial and error were powerful, but those details may never make it into the research literature.
As researchers, if we tell only the success story or only the outcome numbers, we leave practitioners without the critical insights they need to make informed decisions. Including the “messy middle”—the adaptations, the challenges, the what-worked and what-didn’t—turns research into a practical guide. Implementation protocols and detailed reporting on trial and error don’t weaken rigor; they strengthen the bridge between research and practice.
Research Meets Reality
Education isn’t just a system—it’s a lived experience, unfolding daily in classrooms. That’s why the most powerful research doesn’t just inform; it connects.
By honoring both large-scale data and small-scale stories, we:
- Avoid reducing learning to numbers alone.
- Ensure that findings are both valid and meaningful.
- Bridge the gap between evidence and lived experience.
Zoom out to see the trends; zoom in to see why they matter.
For researchers, this means producing work that leads to real-world change.
For educators, it means connecting strategy to student experience.
For policymakers, it means grounding decisions in both statistics and stories.
Key Takeaways
– Celebrate small wins: They inspire, motivate, and build the foundation for long-term success.
– Use dual perspectives: Pair big data with case studies and classroom insights.
– Treat stories as evidence: Narratives bring research to life and make it actionable.
– Keep research human-centered: Every data point represents a student, a teacher, a moment of growth.
Education is both a science and a story. When we honor both—the precision of the data and the humanity behind it—we unlock the full potential of our research, our policies, and our classrooms. Let’s keep zooming in and zooming out. Let’s keep the numbers sharp and the stories alive. Because that’s where the real magic happens.
References
- Amabile, T. M., & Kramer, S. J. (2011). The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. Harvard Business Review Press.
- Arkansas Department of Education. (2025). Arkansas Tutoring Playbook 2025–2026. Little Rock, AR: ADE.
- Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (2020). Desirable difficulties in theory and practice. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 9(4), 475–479.
- Craig, C. J. (2017). Story constellations: A narrative approach to contextualizing teachers’ knowledge of school reform. Teaching and Teacher Education, 64, 132–141.
- Hiebert, J., & Grouws, D. A. (2007). The effects of classroom mathematics teaching on students’ learning. In F. K. Lester (Ed.), Second handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 371–404). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2014). Principles to actions: Ensuring mathematical success for all. Reston, VA: NCTM.
- Rittle-Johnson, B., Fyfe, E. R., & Loehr, A. M. (2016). Improving conceptual and procedural knowledge: Sequencing learning activities to support knowledge integration. Educational Psychology Review, 28(4), 713–748.
- Young, H. D., Stanton, W., & Hutchins, R. (2024, July). An implementation story: High-impact tutoring with 2nd graders and pre-service elementary teachers. Paper presented at the Association of Teacher Educators Summer Conference, Louisville, KY.