A growing body of scholarship foregrounds research-practice partnerships (RPPs) as venues for advancing equity in education. However, few studies focus on partnerships with state education agency leaders, despite their influential roles connecting policy and practice. This article explores state leaders' experiences collaborating in an…

Presents a theoretical framework of institutional choice and argues that the theory predicts and clarifies significant issues in educational policy. (RB)

Four innovative educational and three criminal justice programs were studied to determine whether dissemination/implementation with close fidelity to the original model or implementation according to local needs was more effective. Well-operationalized programs were usually adopted and implemented with fidelity acceptable to program developers.…

Intermediary organizations have become increasingly prominent participants in education policy implementation despite limited knowledge about their distinctive functions and the conditions that constrain and enable those functions. This article addresses that research-practice gap by drawing on theories of organizational ecology and findings from…

Theoretical and practical issues that must be considered in the design, use, and interpretation of large-scale assessments that use collaborative small-group work are explored. It is necessary to ensure that collaboration works toward, rather than against, the purposes of the assessment. (SLD)

The chart essay is discussed as an effective technique that links specific research to real policy decisions and arranges answers for each question in a chart highlighting actual research data. A study of 515 high school seniors' extracurricular activities illustrates use of this report form. (SLD)

The effects on policy and practice of national surveys of education conducted in Scotland were evaluated. Surveys carried out as early as 1953 and 1963 have had little impact. Research must deal with contemporary issues and be relevant to local circumstances in order to influence policy. (SLD)

Local implementation responses to the Utah teacher career ladder program (CLP) initiated in 1983 were assessed using previously collected data. Circumstances/conditions under which schools implement CLPs in accordance with state policy were studied. Local implementations of the program are classified into four modes: pro forma; programmatic;…

A multimethod evaluation of a major Canadian strategic grant program with surveys of 74 funded projects, 4 case studies, and interviews with researchers and grant application staff reveals the favorable effects of partnerships between research and practice on research and dissemination strategies in spite of ideological and pragmatic constraints.…

Five case studies of implementation of instructional policy changes at the classroom level by elementary-school mathematics teachers are discussed. The case studies focus on California's new Mathematics Framework. The interaction between teacher practice and policy is emphasized. Teachers' inherited beliefs, knowledge, and existing practices are…

An introduction to five case studies of mathematics teachers and ancillary essays on implementation of instructional policy change at the classroom level is provided. The case studies and associated discussions focus on California's new Mathematics Framework, which features changes in textbooks, tests, and commonly held conceptions of subject…

A commentary on five case studies of implementation of instructional policy change at the classroom level by elementary school mathematics teachers is provided. The case studies focus on California's new Mathematics Framework. An organizational control perspective is taken in this commentary. (TJH)

Contemporary education reform efforts are moving the focus of educational evaluation from professional relations to increasing consideration of managerial expectations in an increasingly politicized environment. Means of restoring an equilibrium between conventional evaluation norms/procedures and evolving expectations of the political system…