Vivian Tseng

Articles & More

News

• Aug 30, 2022

Vivian’s Voice: Warm Wishes and Gratitude

Someone asked me recently what I will miss the most about my time at the Foundation. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, I will miss the relationships and communities we have built together.

Vivian Tseng

Vivian’s Voice: Warm Wishes and Gratitude

News

• Aug 2, 2022

President’s Comment: Farewell and Thanks to Vivian Tseng

Yesterday, The Foundation for Child Development announced that Vivian Tseng would become its new president and chief executive officer. Here at the William T. Grant Foundation, the announcement comes with a mix of great pride at seeing her career advancement, ...

Adam Gamoran

President’s Comment: Farewell and Thanks to Vivian Tseng

Blog Post

The How and Why Behind Funders’ Decisions

Funders shape what research is conducted on which questions. Funders can also support the infrastructure that is vital to engagement between policymakers and researchers. And while the grants funders make are public knowledge and have received attention in the literature, ...

Vivian Tseng

The How and Why Behind Funders’ Decisions

Publication

A Global Movement for Engaged Research

It’s one thing to know how research is used in policy and practice—to understand the conditions that enable thoughtful deliberation and sense-making of the evidence and the infrastructure that supports those conditions. It’s another ...

Vivian Tseng

and Angela Bednarek

Blog Post

Meeting this Moment (Part II): Unpacking Anti-Asian Racism

The Foundation hopes to support more solution-oriented research that not only richly theorizes anti-Asian racism but also identifies ways to counter racism, xenophobia, and other forms of oppression.

Vivian Tseng

Meeting this Moment (Part II): Unpacking Anti-Asian Racism

Publication

Building Trust in Science Will Require Democratizing Evidence

In a new post published by The Hill, Vivian Tseng outlines how incorporating democratic principles will be key to building trust in science in the coming years, writing: “Democratizing evidence would foster an informed citizenry, in which those furthest ...

Foundation Staff

Webinars

Panel Discussion: Critical Race Perspectives on the Use of Research Evidence

On October 1, 2020, the Foundation hosted a virtual panel discussion with three researchers who offered ideas about ways to center race in efforts to improve the use of research in policy and practice.

Foundation Staff

Panel Discussion: Critical Race Perspectives on the Use of Research Evidence

Blog Post

Vivian’s Voice: Meeting this Moment

At our recent William T. Grant Scholars retreat, I had the opportunity to share my reflections with early- and mid-career academics about ways they might meet this social and political moment. In this post I expand on three recommendations: 1) act ...

Vivian Tseng

Blog Post

Vivian’s Voice: From the sideline to the frontline—How social science can meet the current moment

In light of the lessons learned over the past decade, as well as those we’re learning in real time as the crisis unfolds, I recently wrote a post ...

Vivian Tseng

Vivian’s Voice: From the sideline to the frontline—How social science can meet the current moment

News

• Nov 13, 2019

Vivian Tseng on “No Jargon” Podcast, Episode 197: Making Research Matter

Vivian Tseng joins the Scholars Strategy Network No Jargon podcast to talk about how research has traditionally been used to shape education policy in the U.S. and how more recent approaches may pave the way toward “making research ...

Foundation Staff

Vivian Tseng on “No Jargon” Podcast, Episode 197: Making Research Matter

Blog Post

Social Movement Research to Reduce Inequality for Young People

The Foundation is interested in funding studies that examine social movements as a strategy to target macro-structural inequalities that affect youth outcomes. Such studies might focus on youth-led movements or on adult-led movements that affect youth, but the central focus ...

Jenny Irons

and Vivian Tseng

Social Movement Research to Reduce Inequality for Young People

Publication

“Using Evidence in the U.S.” from What Works Now

In this chapter from What Works Now: Evidence-informed Policy and Practice, Vivian Tseng and Cynthia Coburn delineate the evolution of evidence use in the United States, specifically the ways that research evidence has been used in public education. From the ...

Vivian Tseng

and Cynthia Coburn

“Using Evidence in the U.S.” from What Works Now

Blog Post

Vivian’s Voice: Evidence use across sectors, around the globe, and back at home

I share my reflections on the past decade of work in this area, as well as my current thinking, with the hope that we, along with fellow travelers on a similar journey, can find ways to forge a more productive ...

Vivian Tseng

Vivian’s Voice: Evidence use across sectors, around the globe, and back at home

Webinars

What we fund: Research on strategies to improve the use of research evidence

Improving the use of research evidence in policy and practice is a challenge that implicates researchers across social science disciplines and methodological backgrounds. Here, Vivian Tseng outlines the Foundation’s call for proposals on research to illuminate strategies for ...

Foundation Staff

Publication

“Using Evidence in the U.S.” from What Works Now

Vivian Tseng

and Cynthia Coburn

Publication

“Democratizing Evidence in Education,” from Connecting Research and Practice for Educational Improvement

In this chapter, Vivian Tseng, Steve Fleischman, and Esther Quintero explore what a more democratic evidence movement might look like in the years ahead. Discussing both efforts to build and ...

Vivian Tseng

Steve Fleischman

and Esther Quintero

“Democratizing Evidence in Education,” from Connecting Research and Practice for Educational Improvement

Publication

Pay it Forward: Guidance for Mentoring Junior Scholars

Excerpt from the Introduction Having a good mentor early in a scholarly career can mean the difference between success and failure. It is striking that such an important activity in the training of new scholars has had few established definitions ...

Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom

Vivian Tseng

Nalini Ravindranath

and Nicole Yohalem

Pay it Forward: Guidance for Mentoring Junior Scholars

Blog Post

Creating Partnerships: Learning New Ways to Connect

Building an RPP is hard work. They are complex organisms, with structures, processes, and roles that evolve as partnerships mature and adapt. However they form, we have observed five elements that seem to come together in successful partnerships.

John Easton

Lauren Supplee

and Vivian Tseng

Creating Partnerships: Learning New Ways to Connect

Webinars

Use of Research Evidence: Building Two-Way Streets

In this video, produced by the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services, Vivian Tseng challenges the traditional paradigm of moving from “research to practice.” She suggests that researchers ...

Foundation Staff

Blog Post

Evidence at the Crossroads Pt. 11: The Next Generation of Evidence-based Policy

As we approach the next generation of evidence-based policy, it’s essential that we take steps to ensure that practitioners and decision makers at the state and local level have the support they need.

Vivian Tseng

Evidence at the Crossroads Pt. 11: The Next Generation of Evidence-based Policy

Blog Post

Evidence at the Crossroads Pt. 1: What Works, Tiered Evidence, and the Future of Evidence-Based Policy

We are at a crossroads in evidence-based policy. Federal evidence initiatives can be strengthened, but doing so requires the will and the patience to learn from the work thus far. ...

Vivian Tseng

Evidence at the Crossroads Pt. 1: What Works, Tiered Evidence, and the Future of Evidence-Based Policy

Blog Post

Intersecting Inequalities: Research to Reduce Inequality for Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth

Carola Suárez-Orozco and colleagues explore how inequality plays out along six dimensions of disadvantage particular to immigrant-origin families. The authors outline how developments in educational and family contexts ...

Carola Suarez-Orozco

Vivian Tseng

and Hirokazu Yoshikawa

Intersecting Inequalities: Research to Reduce Inequality for Immigrant-Origin Children and Youth

Blog Post

Building the Infrastructure to Improve the Use and Usefulness of Research in Education

Vivian Tseng and Sandra Nutley point the way forward for education researchers and policymakers, summarizing the key points made throughout Using Research Evidence in Education and concluding: “Research is not the next silver bullet for education reform, and simply ...

Vivian Tseng

and Sandra Nutley

Building the Infrastructure to Improve the Use and Usefulness of Research in Education

Blog Post

What Might Evidence-based Policy 2.0 Look Like?

The early generation of evidence-based policy was largely about producing evidence and disseminating information to users. The field made enormous progress in the past decade, especially around “what works” evidence. Research on effective programs is generated using more ...

Vivian Tseng

What Might Evidence-based Policy 2.0 Look Like?

Blog Post

Want to Get Research Used? Top Five Tips

Researchers often ask how they can get their research used. Many of us have devoted our careers to research because we think research can and should make a difference in the world. And yet, we struggle with making those aspirations ...

Vivian Tseng

Want to Get Research Used? Top Five Tips

Blog Post

Forging Common Ground: Fostering the Conditions for Evidence Use

Excerpt from the Introduction “This essay draws on those three initiatives to ofer lessons my colleagues and I have learned about ways to connect research, policy, and practice—and ultimately forge common ground. I also ofer a few ...

Vivian Tseng

Forging Common Ground: Fostering the Conditions for Evidence Use

Blog Post

Studying the Use of Research Evidence in Policy and Practice

In this essay, Vivian Tseng and William T. Grant Foundation senior program team colleagues describe the Foundation’s interest in generating studies that focus on understanding the use of research evidence in policy and practice affecting youth and how ...

Vivian Tseng

Studying the Use of Research Evidence in Policy and Practice

Blog Post

Partnerships: Shifting the Dynamics Between Research and Practice

In this brief essay, Vivian Tseng introduces the Foundation’s learning community of research-practice partnerships, writing, “Successful partnerships enable researchers to develop stronger knowledge of practitioners’ challenges, their contexts, and the opportunities and limitations for using research. ...

Vivian Tseng

Partnerships: Shifting the Dynamics Between Research and Practice

Blog Post

Improving the Connections Between Research and Practice

The prevailing research-to-practice model suggests a one-way street of moving research to practice. To strengthen research-practice connections, however, we need to build a two-way street with reciprocal exchanges.

Vivian Tseng

Improving the Connections Between Research and Practice

Blog Post

The Uses of Research in Policy and Practice

This paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding the uses of research in policy and practice, findings from recent empirical work, and early lessons from the field. The framework describes the ways policymakers and practitioners define, acquire, interpret, and ultimately ...

Vivian Tseng

Vivian Tseng is an author on 1 news article, 10 blog posts, and 7 publications, and is mentioned in 2 news articles, 1 publication, and 3 webinars.

Bio

Vivian Tseng is a former Senior Vice President at the William T. Grant Foundation, where she led the Foundation’s grantmaking programs and initiatives to connect research, policy, and practice to improve child and youth outcomes. In 2009, she launched the Foundation’s focus on the use of research evidence in policy and practice. She also designed the Foundation’s support for research-practice partnerships and helped developed an array of field-defining resources and a learning community of research-practice partnerships across the country. With Angela Bednarek and Annete Boaz, Vivian also helped create the Transforming Evidence Network, which aims to create opportunities for researchers, funders, practitioners, and decision-makers to collaborate toward improving the use of research evidence across fields and sectors.

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