Connecting Research And Practice For Educational Improvement

Connecting Research and Practice for Educational Improvement presents powerful arguments and richly illustrated cases for how more collaborative relationships between researchers and educators can yield more relevant research that impacts practice. This book can be useful for anyone teaching or learning about research–practice partnerships, in both school and out-of-school settings. The chapters highlight the different dispositions and skills needed to cultivate ethical relationships and promote equity through partnerships and provide rich frameworks for guiding future work.

Critics within and outside the field of education often point out the absence of a strong reciprocal connection between research and practice. The emergence of standards-based reform and the passage of NCLB have generated increasing pressure for evidence-based decision making at all levels. Yet there is little clarity about how research results are actually used in education, or what kinds of evidence are most useful to practitioners and policymakers. In this book, leading scholars in the field examine the culture, incentives, and opportunities that shape the decision-making practices of educational professionals (teachers, administrators, and policymakers) as well as individuals, intermediary organizations, and private sector groups who engage in and disseminate research. The authors explore the multiple ways in which research--or the lack of it--influences the quality of instruction, both directly and indirectly. They identify strategies for making researching and development a more vital and relevant part of educational decision making and provide suggestions for strengthening the research-to-practice pipeline. Part description and part prescription, the book maps out avenues for important changes in education research, policy, and practice. "With all the fuss about evidence-based decision making, The Role of Research in Educational Improvement makes a stellar contribution. The chapters cover the full range of issues from federal, state, district, and school levels. In each case instruction is the focus. This invaluable resource, at once comprehensive and focused, unravels the mystery of research and makes it accessible. A great read whether you are in the schoolhouse or the statehouse." -- Michael Fullan, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto "Turn a gaggle of scholars loose on a vital subject--the relation of education research to education practice--and if you are lucky, you get a collection like this. It draws on the authors' long experience and reams of research to provide lessons worth pondering by everybody from the Congress to the classroom." -- Carol Hirschon Weiss, Beatrice B. Whiting Professor, Emerita, Harvard Graduate School of Education "An excellent and important contribution to our knowledge of how teachers, school leaders, and policymakers use evidence-based practices to improve teaching and learning in schools. The authors highlight the challenges, obstacles, and benefits of using research evidence to improve schooling." -- Lance D. Fusarelli, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, North Carolina State University Edited by John D. Bransford, Deborah J. Stipek, Nancy J. Vye, Louis M. Gomez, and Diana Lam

This ground-breaking book comprehensively addresses an area of major and sustained concern: how to improve the use of research evidence and enhance educators’ research engagement as a route to the improvement of educational practice. It focuses on the topic of knowledge brokering and mobilization in education, and its role in fostering evidence-informed practice. Divided into three sections, each addressing a different role of knowledge mobilizers, the book is based in clear evidentiary grounding. The chapters: Explore payoffs and challenges of connecting research to practice Provide recommendations in relation to practice and decision-making Present organized and professionally-enhancing tools, strategies and insights Written by internationally-recognized leaders and expert contributors, The Role of Knowledge Brokers in Education brings together extensive and global perspectives in an accessible yet comprehensive volume. This book is an invaluable resource for educational leaders worldwide who are interested in using or generating research for school improvement, as well as researchers, academics, and students in schools of education.

The Foundational Handbook on Improvement Research in Education is a pathbreaking effort to build a field of research committed to producing the practical knowledge needed to advance educational access, quality, and equity. This is research distinguished by the use of inclusive, iterative approaches to analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation to understand and address educational opportunities, needs, and problems grounded deeply in school and community contexts. Designed for researchers, students, and educators, the handbook elaborates the intellectual foundations, explores the organizational and policy contexts, reviews approaches, and examines methods of improvement research. It features contributions from a plural community of researchers with expertise in the learning sciences, instructional improvement, organizational and policy studies, and research methodologies, many with extensive experience collaborating with teachers, leadership, families, and advocates in local problem solving and design.

Educational leaders, researchers, and community members have found collaborating on research supports improvement in their schools, districts, and the wider community – but how do we go about developing these partnerships? With essential tools, frameworks, and tips for brokering in research-practice partnerships (RPPs), this practical book provides guidance on cultivating and sustaining impactful relationships and supportive infrastructure with partners. Through the careful brokering of these partnerships, RPP brokers can bridge the gap between education research and practice, bringing people together to build a more equitable educational system. Written by RPP leaders, researchers, and professionals, this handbook explores how brokering can: Support the production and use of partnership research Develop and nurture meaningful relationships, even in the face of challenging circumstances Build individual competencies to manage an RPP and strengthen the partnership Develop partnership governance Implement effective administrative structures Design processes and communications routines Assess and continuously improve the partnership This is an essential read for any educational leader, higher education faculty, researcher, or other community member who wants to understand the types of activities and responsibilities required of an RPP broker and the strategies to become an effective broker of RPPs aimed at educational improvement and equitable transformation. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

That there is a divide between research and practice is a common lament across policy-oriented disciplines, and education is no exception. Rhetoric abounds about the role research plays (or does not play) in the improvement of schools and classrooms, and policy makers push solutions that are rooted in assumptions about the way that research should influence practice. Yet few people have studied the relationship between research and practice empirically. This book presents findings from a series of interlocking case studies of nationally visible R&D projects, with a unique focus on how researchers and practitioners actually worked together, and the policy, social, and institutional processes that either enabled or hindered their work. The book investigates the dynamics of cross-institutional collaboration and the relationship between tool design, teacher learning, and the implementation of research-based approaches. It also explores conditions for learning in schools and the role of evidence in district decision making. By investigating the roles played by research and practice in these ten educational improvement efforts, the book illuminates lessons for those who seek to do this kind of work in the future. It concludes by suggesting implications for designers, funders, school and district leaders, and universities.

This open access book seeks to create a forum for discussing key questions regarding theories on teaching: Which theories of teaching do we have? What are their attributes? What do they contain? How are they generated? How context-sensitive and content-specific do they need to be? Is it possible or even desirable to develop a comprehensive theory of teaching? The book identifies areas of convergence and divergence among the answers to these questions by prominent international scholars in research on teaching. Initiating exchanges among the authors, it then evaluates whether consensus can be reached on the areas of divergence. The book concludes by discussing lessons learned from this endeavor and outlines steps that need to be taken for advancing future work on theorizing teaching. As such, the book is aimed at readers interested in an overview of the theorizing of teaching and key open questions that, if addressed, help to move the field forward.

This book explores and builds on the extraordinary work of Professor Paul Black across assessment and pedagogy across the curriculum, including STEM, humanities and social science subjects. This book explores the influence that Black has had within educational settings focusing on interpretations of the work and scholarship he has achieved across a range of settings and on the ways scholars, who have worked with him or been influenced by his ideas, have developed their research and teaching. The contributions are presented under three thematic sections, each of which reflects a set of shared educational concerns and values drawing on the natural and social sciences and developments in public policy. These concerns and values, with their emphasis on teacher assessment, provide a basis for a strategic, informed and coherent response to challenges in education, such as the cancellation of public examinations in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.