Improving the use of Research Evidence

Grantees and program staff in a roundtable discussion.

Evidence from systematic research can deepen decision-makers’ understanding of issues, generate reliable assessment tools, support strategic planning, guide program improvement, and more. But only if it is used.

Funding
Opportunities

While an extensive body of knowledge provides a rich understanding of specific conditions that foster the use of research evidence, we still lack robust, validated strategies for cultivating them. In response, funding opportunities in this focus area support studies to build and test ways to improve the use, usefulness, and impact of evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the United States.

Grant Programs

Funding

Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence

This program funds studies that examine ways to improve the use of research evidence by policymakers, agency leaders, organizational managers, intermediaries, and other decision-makers that shape youth-serving systems in the United States.

Status:

Open

Open date:

March 7, 2024

Next Deadline:

May 1, 2024 3:00 pm EST

Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence

Funding

William T. Grant Scholars Program

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas.

Status:

Closed

Open date:

March 27, 2024

Next Deadline:

July 3, 2024 3:00 pm EST

Recently Awarded Grants

Grant

Embedding Research into Organizational Routines to Deepen the Use of Evidence

In what ways does an intentional approach to routinize the use of research evidence become embedded within data-driven practices in school districts to better support science instruction?

Annie Allen

University Of Colorado

2023 – 2025
$650,000

Grant

Improving the Use of Research Evidence in Multilingual Learner Policy and Practice: Research-Practice Partnership Engagement with State Education Agency Leaders

How does engagement in a research-practice partnership improve the use of research by state education agency staff? Does participation in the partnership support state education leaders to shift policy development from a focus on compliance to a focus on social …

Hayley Weddle

University Of Pittsburgh

2022 – 2025
$609,612

Grant

The Inception and Impact of Researcher-Policymaker Relationships

Does a light-touch intervention to connect county legislators with research and researchers improve their use of research evidence?

Adam Levine

Johns Hopkins University

2022 – 2024
$216,360

Grant

Building Trusting Relationships to Support Evidence Use in Human Services

Can training and coaching contribute to the development of trusting relationships between agency leadership and staff and their community partners? And to what extent do those relationships improve the use of evidence in decision-making and implementation of evidence-informed initiatives in …

Allison Metz

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill

2021 – 2023
$50,000

Grant

A Southern California Regional RPP Network for the Comparative Study of Research Use in Anti-Racist Partnerships

How can research-practice partnerships use research in ways that forward anti-racism understanding and action within K-12 schools?

June Ahn

University Of California, Irvine

2021 – 2024
$600,000

Grant

Optimization of the RPC Model: Enhancing Effectiveness and Equity in Improving the Use of Research

Can the Research-to-Policy Collaboration model be improved to reduce inequities for scholars of color in accessing policymakers, improve the timeliness of research to policymakers, and improve cost-effectiveness?

Daniel Crowley

Pennsylvania State University

2021 – 2025
$900,000

Grant

Effectiveness of a Multi-System Leadership Strategy for Using Evidence During Sustainment of ASD Interventions

Will training in the use of research evidence enable mid-level leaders in education and mental health systems to sustain evidence-based interventions for children with autism?

Aubyn Stahmer

University Of California, Davis

2021 – 2024
$998,265

Grant

Testing Research Communication Strategies and Impact among Policymakers to Reduce Inequalities Precipitated by COVID-19

Can a research communication intervention increase policymakers’ use of research evidence to improve the lives of youth and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

J. Taylor Scott

Pennsylvania State University

2020 – 2021
$38,280

Grant

Measurement of Conceptual Use of Research in Courts

How can we assess whether research has influenced the thinking and decision making orientations of policymakers and practitioners?

Sarah Walker

University Of Washington

2020 – 2024
$409,936

Grant

Consistently Crucial but Invariably Ignored: Testing the Role of Coordination in The Use of Research Evidence

Can the Coordinated Knowledge System for improving the use of research evidence in mental health be made less intensive yet still impactful?

Kimberly Becker

University Of South Carolina

2020 – 2025
$638,475

Grant

Active Surveillance of Policy Ecosystems and Networks to Enhance Brokering of Research Evidence into State Policymaking

Can a knowledge brokering intervention improve the use of research evidence in state policymaking?

Itzhak Yanovitzky

Rutgers, The State University Of New Jersey

2019 – 2023
$955,012

Grant

Measuring the Effectiveness of Research-Practice Partnerships in Education

Strong measures are needed to assess when and how research-practice partnerships are effective and can improve the use of research evidence in policy and practice.

Caitlin Farrell

University Of Colorado

2019 – 2023
$947,948

Resources
for Applicants

Featured Resources

Blog Post

Studying Ways to Improve the Use of Research Evidence: Distinguishing Data from Research Evidence

Lauren Supplee

Blog Post

Studying Ways to Improve the Use of Research Evidence: Is Your Proposal a Good Fit?

Kim DuMont

Blog Post

Studying Ways to Improve the Use of Research Evidence: Presenting a Strong Rationale in Your Application

Kim DuMont

See more resources for applicants

What
We’re Learning

Grantee Writing

From the Digest

Digest, Issue 9: Winter 2023-24

Studying the use of research evidence: In conversation with Program Officer Anupreet Sidhu

“I think all researchers who produce research to improve youth outcomes should think about the ways that their research can be taken up and used. Who are these findings meant for and who are the decision-makers that would benefit …

Lenore Neier

Studying the use of research evidence: In conversation with Program Officer Anupreet Sidhu

Digest, Issue 9: Winter 2023-24

Doing better by children: Studying ways to fully leverage ideas and findings from research

“Research can contribute to better child outcomes, but waiting for ideas and findings from research to make their way onto the desks of decision-makers is a flawed approach. We need strategies that intentionally nurture conditions that support the use …

Kim DuMont

Doing better by children: Studying ways to fully leverage ideas and findings from research

Digest, Issue 8: Winter 2022-23

Learning Across Contexts: Bringing Together Research on Research Use and Implementation Science

The fields of implementation science and the study of research use in policy and practice travel on many of the same roads and share similar goals, chief among which is …

Lauren Supplee

Allison Metz

and Annette Boaz

Learning Across Contexts: Bringing Together Research on Research Use and Implementation Science

Digest, Issue 8: Winter 2022-23

Building Evidence Systems to Integrate Implementation Research and Practice in Education

Whether framed as a problem of practice or research use, understanding implementation is critical for identifying and redressing the inequitable distribution of resources, facilitators, and barriers in our systems, which give rise to disparities in student outcomes.

Norma Ming

Building Evidence Systems to Integrate Implementation Research and Practice in Education

Digest, Issue 7: Winter 2021-22

Research on Research Use: Building Theory, Empirical Evidence, and a Global Field

Research can play a vital role in pointing policymakers, civil society, and communities toward a stronger, more sustainable, and just world. But getting there means building on what we know about what it takes for research to be useful, used, …

Digest, Issue 7: Winter 2021-22

Strengthening Methods and Improving Collaboration: The Use of Research Evidence Methods Repository

Introducing an open, centralized resource to help strengthen methods and enable greater collaboration among researchers studying the use of research evidence in policy and practice.

Drew Gitomer

and Kevin Crouse

Strengthening Methods and Improving Collaboration: The Use of Research Evidence Methods Repository

Also See

Awarded Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence

The William T. Grant Foundation invests in high-quality research focused on reducing inequality in youth outcomes and improving the use of research evidence in decisions that affect young people in the United States.

Improving the Use
of Research Evidence

Funding
Opportunities

Grant Programs

Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence

William T. Grant Scholars Program

Recently Awarded Grants

Embedding Research into Organizational Routines to Deepen the Use of Evidence

Improving the Use of Research Evidence in Multilingual Learner Policy and Practice: Research-Practice Partnership Engagement with State Education Agency Leaders

The Inception and Impact of Researcher-Policymaker Relationships

Building Trusting Relationships to Support Evidence Use in Human Services

A Southern California Regional RPP Network for the Comparative Study of Research Use in Anti-Racist Partnerships

Optimization of the RPC Model: Enhancing Effectiveness and Equity in Improving the Use of Research

Effectiveness of a Multi-System Leadership Strategy for Using Evidence During Sustainment of ASD Interventions

Testing Research Communication Strategies and Impact among Policymakers to Reduce Inequalities Precipitated by COVID-19

Measurement of Conceptual Use of Research in Courts

Consistently Crucial but Invariably Ignored: Testing the Role of Coordination in The Use of Research Evidence

Active Surveillance of Policy Ecosystems and Networks to Enhance Brokering of Research Evidence into State Policymaking

Measuring the Effectiveness of Research-Practice Partnerships in Education

Resources
for Applicants

Featured Resources

Studying Ways to Improve the Use of Research Evidence: Distinguishing Data from Research Evidence

Studying Ways to Improve the Use of Research Evidence: Is Your Proposal a Good Fit?

Studying Ways to Improve the Use of Research Evidence: Presenting a Strong Rationale in Your Application

What
We’re Learning

Grantee Writing

Integrating research evidence and equity concerns in the policy implementation process: Challenges and future directions

Toward lasting change: Supporting school district central offices’ use of research to address systemic educational inequities

Networks, Knowledge Brokers, and the Potential to Impact the Use of Research Evidence

“Evidence is a continually accumulating resource”: An interview with grantee Bruce Chorpita

Research-Practice Partnerships in Education: The State of the Field

From the Digest

Studying the use of research evidence: In conversation with Program Officer Anupreet Sidhu

Doing better by children: Studying ways to fully leverage ideas and findings from research

Learning Across Contexts: Bringing Together Research on Research Use and Implementation Science

Building Evidence Systems to Integrate Implementation Research and Practice in Education

Research on Research Use: Building Theory, Empirical Evidence, and a Global Field

Strengthening Methods and Improving Collaboration: The Use of Research Evidence Methods Repository

Also See

Popular Searches

FundingOpportunities

Grant Programs

Recently Awarded Grants

Resourcesfor Applicants

Featured Resources

WhatWe’re Learning

Grantee Writing

From the Digest

Also See

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Improving the Use
of Research Evidence

Funding
Opportunities

Resources
for Applicants

What
We’re Learning