Practice

Many research-practice partnerships begin when two initially unaffiliated partner organizations decide to pursue collaborative work. Having formed a partnership between our respective offices within a federal agency, our experience is a bit different.

Systematically considering programs, practices, and policies that may move the needle in some of these important areas is the next frontier of research if we want to address inequality for this fast growing group of students.

It’s important to recognize that the form of research contributes to the social sense-making process, and can create a body of shared understandings based on research principles. Research designed for use, with specific guidance for practice, can embed common ideas in state school improvement delivery systems.

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.

A culture of evidence that shapes the accreditation of educator preparation programs can have an enormous influence over the education landscape. But will it work?

Evidence doesn’t turn itself into policy, especially when it contradicts prevailing paradigms or entrenched funding streams. If we are serious about a What Works movement, we can’t allow ourselves or other decision makers to pick and choose which results we want to act upon.

If our search for effective reforms for educational practice is successful, having strong and reliable evidence on implementation will be crucial for enacting real reform in our schools.

As the evidence movement matures, it is increasingly clear that we need to build on lessons not only from clear successes, but also from interventions that have not worked. Neither program developers nor researchers can tackle this task in isolation.

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. Otherwise, evidence-based policy will likely recede into the background as yet another policy fad that came and went. To move forward, let’s take a good hard look at the current evidence initiatives and identify what can be learned from them.

Intermediaries can’t solve all the problems related to the use of research evidence by policymakers and practitioners, but they can serve as effective bridges between the producers and users. Understanding the conditions that enable intermediaries to be effective is key to sustaining these important connections.

Instead of thinking of research and practice as a point A and point B journey, we might instead think of traveling around a neighborhood. The best neighborhoods have the infrastructure to invite purposeful collaboration and interaction while maintaining comfort and practicality. A neighborhood-like network of cooperation, rather than just a bridge from one point to another, would allow for purposeful collaboration in pursuit of positive outcomes, bringing together not only researchers and practitioners, but educators, policymakers, and consumers.

It is time for all of us to give education research the attention it deserves.