Author
Rob Asen
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Blog PostFour Qualities that Shape Contexts for the Use of Research Evidence in Local Education Policy
Research is sometimes a messy process, full of trial and error, vision and revision. Recent scholarship has indicated that the use of research evidence can be messy, too. In Democracy, Deliberation, and Education, I venture into the messy setting of research use to better understand how school board members, as local educational policymakers, encounter various […]
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Blog PostTrust and the Use of Research Evidence
When policymakers, practitioners, and others use research evidence, they do so within a web of human relationships. The strength of research evidence alone doesn’t guarantee consistent interpretation or its implementation. But the quality of relationships does matter when it comes to understanding and using research evidence–and trust is a critical factor for determining the quality […]
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ResourceThe Research Says: Definitions and Uses of a Key Policy Term in Federal Lay and Local School-Board Deliberations
"Focusing on “research” as a key term in debates over U.S. education policy, this article compares the definition of research in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) with the meanings and uses of research in school-‐board deliberations in three local districts in Wisconsin. While NCLB articulates a narrow view of research and a hierarchy of methods, the school boards operated with an expansive meaning of research and combined its use with other evidence types. Appreciating the role that values play in crafting public policy, these local debates balanced technical and public modes of reasoning."
Use of Research EvidenceEducation