Evidence-based education aims at improving the effectiveness of educational interventions and programs through knowledge on the basis of rigorous scientific research. However, evidence-based education should not be equated with empirical educational research; nor should it be understood as an independent paradigm of educational science, because of its focus on educational practice. The specific notion of how science and practice relate to each other, which is fundamental to evidence-based education, is exposed to a threefold critique, namely concerning the technological conception of educational practice, the supposed abstinence from theory as frame for educational research, and the disregard of communication as medium of educational effectiveness. The last paragraph of the paper presents a reminiscent sketch of an alternative conception of the relation between science and practice as it can be found with some representatives of educational psychology.