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Toward a Research Agenda for Understanding and Improving the Use of Research Evidence.

This report was prepared through the generous support of the William T. Grant Foundation of New York, which is not responsible for its content. Opinions expressed by individuals quoted in this report are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Executive Summary Many researchers and research funders want their work to be influential in educational policy and practice, but there is little systematic understanding of how policymakers and practitioners use research evidence, much less how they acquire or interpret it. By understanding what does shape policy-makers' and practitioners' decision making and the role of research evidence in those decisions, the research community may be able to improve the likelihood that their work will be used to directly inform policy and practice. This study sought to contribute to that goal by helping to identify when, how, and under what conditions research evidence is used by policymak-ers and practitioners; what other sources of information these individuals rely on; and what factors serve as barriers or facilitators to using research evidence in making policy and practice decisions. In shedding light on those topics, we hoped to uncover promising areas for future investigation by researchers. Among our findings, one of particular importance to researchers stood out: In our study policymakers and practitioners did not mention research evidence as often, nor discuss it as strongly, as other sources of information. Study participants expressed skepticism about research evidence (empirical findings derived from systematic methods and analyses) and noted its limitations. While almost all participants stated that research evidence plays a part in policy and practice decisions, they rarely identified it as a primary factor. Rather, most study participants responded that research evidence played a more indirect or secondary role. Other findings are described later in this summary. The study was conducted in fall 2008 through spring 2009 by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, in collaboration with the Center for Knowledge Use in Education and with the support of the William T. Grant Foundation. The research team used a combination of structured focus groups and individual interviews to elicit comments from a limited, self-selected sample of 65 influential leaders in the areas of policy and practice. Participants represented six groups of federal, state, and local educational interests. These included congressional staff members, deputy state commissioners of education, state education committee legislators, school board trustees, school district superintendents, and school …