Recent scholarship suggests that research use is an interactive, social phenomenon, and that brokers play important roles in facilitating the exchange of research evidence. We add to this body of literature by exploring the role of brokers in the exchange of research evidence among state education agency leaders involved in K-12 science education…

While beneficial, the consistent and regular use of evidence to improve teaching and learning is proving difficult to achieve in practice. This paper attempts to shed new light on this issue by examining the question: "If using evidence to inform teaching practice is rational behaviour, why aren't all teachers engaged in it?" It first…

The purpose of this study is to examine how Illinois school districts are utilizing the Illinois 5Essentials Survey results, particularly for school improvement, to determine challenges to successful implementation, and to make recommendations for improvements to the 5E Survey and implementation process for statewide use. We also summarize…

Congress began funding the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program in 1998 to stimulate whole school reform in low-achieving schools. Schools receiving CSRD funding are required to evaluate the reforms implemented and the student results achieved. In response to interest among educators and researchers, a national research…

In an attempt to understand why the promise of educational innovation has not been realized, educational innovation, its ideological and paradigmatic underpinnings, and the major stages of the innovation process are critically examined. The centrality of power and the generation of correspondence and contradiction as key analytical concepts are…

Identifies themes in the theoretical literature on policy implementation that can be used to develop a research-based framework about how qualitative research can be used to analyze policy implementation through the investigation of informal and formal communication lines. (SLD)

A growing number of researchers are questioning the usefulness of reform strategies that do not provide teachers with specific information about how to implement changes. The replication of successful programs depends on giving teachers the tools they need to carry out reforms by explaining them in detail. (SLD)

This 3-year project, part of an ongoing collaborative program development effort, is aimed at improvement of teacher education between Ohio State University and five Franklin County (Ohio) school districts. The project established a pilot program to help beginning teachers explore their own needs and classroom processes with the assistance of…

As educators across the nation launch into frenzied efforts to "do something" in response to the various recommendations of commissions on educational excellence, many are forgetting that knowledge of how to implement change is available. This paper focuses on three concerns that educators must face when fitting general recommendations…

In accordance with research into what makes schools effective, efforts were made to translate the findings into a school improvement project in the New York City Public Schools. The research isolated five characteristics of schools identified as effective (that is, as demonstrating for 3 years the ability to deliver basic school skills to the full…

This paper illustrates how theoretical research and development of an innovative instructional approach have been successfully integrated with teacher training and classroom implementation. This approach, called "Complex Instruction", was designed to facilitate the development of cognitive, academic, and linguistic functioning of all students in…

A description is given of the activities that occurred during the initial three years of planning and implementing a staff development program aimed at effective teaching and supervision in the Glendale, California, Unified School District. The report focuses on the third component of a five-year master plan, the planning and implementation of a…

Local schools and school districts lack organized information on school effectiveness to select programs and practices to meet their specific program improvement and implementation needs. Critical program features, implementation and training requirements, program costs, program-delivery systems, program impacts, and a host of other relevant…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article analyzes two National Institute of Education programs--the Research and Development Utilization Program and the Experimental Schools Program--and finds that a key reason for nonutilization of research is the "policy vacuum" in which research is conducted.…

Research is the only enforcement tool provided for in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child and is therefore the most realistic hope for real change. Some of the difficulties of research on children's rights are reviewed, considering methodology and interpretation. (SLD)