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 Framing the Problem The Work of the Network Projects Organization Contact Us
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Home > About Us About Us The Research Network on Teaching and Learning was formed to identify strategies for creating a stronger relationship between knowledge about successful educational practices and what actually takes place in schools. The Network examines barriers to the implementation of evidence-based policies and practices in educational settings, and it experiments with promising strategies for creating links between research and practice. Framing the Problem
 But despite calls for “evidence-based practice” and “data-driven decision making”, research and development play small roles in current educational improvement efforts. Given the critical need to improve education, it is regrettable that research is not used as effectively and extensively in education as in domains such as business, medicine, and agriculture. The reasons are many and interrelated, and they concern both supply and demand. In comparison with other sectors, there is comparatively little organized and cumulative research in education in part because little is invested in educational research. There are also problems related to the nature and quality of educational research. The culture of research does not emphasize practical usefulness, and there are few incentives to synthesize or disseminate findings to practitioners. On the demand side, there are problems related to practitioners’ capacity to critically evaluate research as well as to implement research-based practices. The norms of the education profession do not encourage educators to look to research for answers or for guidance about practice. Contributing to the limited use of education R&D is the governance of districts and schools. Public priorities as well as school leadership change frequently. Political and bureaucratic-based policies are often fragmented and uncoordinated, or they promote a focus on simple, short-term solutions when complex, sustained efforts are needed. And the political and public will to provide the resources needed to implement practices suggested by research findings is often absent. There are also large gaps between the knowledge available to members of practice communities (teachers, principals, superintendents) and members of research communities who study topics such as learning, school organization, community involvement, and leadership. Although each group has a great deal to learn from the other, there are few forums for knowledge exchange. Educational researchers do not have access to the kinds of questions teachers and administrators need answered and information available in research journals is typically impenetrable to non-specialists. For these and other reasons, research is not helping schools improve student learning on a large scale. Problems on the supply side exacerbate the lack of interest in supporting or using educational research, and the poor support and low demand perpetuate problems with the quantity, quality, and usefulness of research. What has emerged is a self-fulfilling trap of low expectations for R&D in education. The principal challenge for the MacArthur Network on Teaching and Learning is to investigate ways to break out of this trap. The Network seeks to understand better the reasons for the lack of evidence-based practice in education, and to examine promising strategies for connecting R&D with practice. An important goal is to build and explore a theory of educational improvement that includes active and interrelated contributions from practice as well as research and development. The work of the Network should to lead to specific recommendations for changes in government structures, school districts, schools, universities, education enterprises and funding agencies, and perhaps recommendations for new organizational structures that will promote the use of systematic and reliable empirical evidence in school improvement efforts. < top |
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The Work of the Network To accomplish these goals the Network has initiated three inter-related strands of work. Each of these activities has its own set of research goals and products, but they will also support and enrich each other by collaborative planning and by sharing findings. Collectively Network members are crafting evolving documents about the conjectures we are developing and the evidence that we have assembled to date. In all three of the major Network activities we are examining the ways in which research and development efforts intersect with and inform the improvement of practice. We are systematically analyzing the obstacles to undertaking such work, the problems that impede the travel and implementation of effective R&D work to other locales, and how various aspects of the contexts of research and practice and the relationships between them impede evidence-based practice. < top
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Projects 1. Synthesizing knowledge about connections between research and practice in education and other domains: Fortunately, we are not the first to address the issue of connections between research and practice. There is a scholarly literature on the utilization and diffusion of research in policy and practice in a variety of domains, including medicine and business, and in different cultures and political environments. One of the Network’s tasks is to summarize and analyze what is known. This is being accomplished by reviewing literature and by consulting individuals across different domains of practice.
2. Documenting Problems and Promises of Research and Development: The Meta-Project A second major activity examines existing efforts to improve teaching and learning through research and development. This is being accomplished in part by studying a diverse group of ongoing R&D programs that show some promise of promoting evidence-based practices that improve student learning. The first goal of this project is to document the problems, in the larger social-political context as well as in districts and schools, that are encountered in efforts to undertake and utilize R&D on a large scale. The second goal is to identify and articulate strategies that show some promise of addressing the barriers found. Of particular interest are programmatic R&D efforts -- which we have termed “problem-solving R&D” -- that involve scientific rigor, a concern for producing usable knowledge, and deep engagement with teachers, schools, and systems of schools. The purpose of the “meta-study” is to synthesize what can be learned from these different projects and to communicate what we learn so that others can benefit from their experience. Case studies of the R&D programs selected include visits to the institution where the work takes place, visits to schools or districts where the work is being conducted and used, and interviews with researchers, practitioners, policy makers, parents, and community leaders. A shortcoming of examining existing projects is that the work is partly retrospective and Network members have the limited perspective of outsiders. To complement the case study analyses, the Meta-study is also following closely the planning, implementation and trajectories of two newly initiated R&D efforts, one that was developed by the Network (the Information Infrastructure Systems study) and another that was designed in close collaboration with Network members (The Learning Partnership project). These two projects are described below. < top 3. Implementing problem-solving research and development to improve teaching and learning: Learning by Doing The third major activity of the Network involves “learning by doing”. By implementing its own R&D work, the Network has the opportunity to study the impediments and promises of connecting research to practice more closely than it is able to do by studying projects undertaken by other researchers. Information Infrastructure Systems Study (IIS): The first “learning by doing” project explores the benefits of creating a comprehensive, state-of-the-art technology infrastructure that can enhance student and teacher learning, organizational learning (e.g. at the level of a school or district), and communication with parents and other community members, as well as with health care services and other agencies with whom students interact.
The Information Infrastructure Systems project was created to determine how technology might transform schools the way it has transformed many industries. The goal is to improve instruction by using information systems to promote evidence-driven decision-making.Our theory is that various organizational functions in schools are, in general, loosely coupled — instruction, assessment, administration, and social services often operate in isolation from each other. This loose coupling can be seen, for example, in the relationships between instruction and social support services, or in the relationship between curriculum and assessment. In most schools, no system exists to track services and report back to teachers on service delivery or outcomes. In addition, accountability-driven testing does not reflect the needs of teachers for fine-grained information with which to tailor curriculum and strategies for meeting the needs of individual students. The goal of the information infrastructure project is to develop (or find and integrate) systems that can make schools more tightly coupled and able to engage in ambitious, individualized instruction. We are pursuing this goal through two sets of interrelated activities:
This work creates opportunities to study the impact of information infrastructure in real schools. As we infuse new systems into the school, we expect to expose aspects of the existing system that might not otherwise have been noticed. By organizing our work around the goal of creating change and by creating collaborations between universities and schools, we will be able to document the circumstances and contexts in which productive change happens and to reveal both obstacles and opportunities for institutional connections that promote evidence-based practice. The Learning Partnership Project: The second “learning by doing” project connects the Network with a MacArthur Foundation initiative that is designed to help school districts engage in large-scale and continuous evidence-based improvement of teaching and learning in the context of turbulent policy environments, resource limitations, competing priorities, and prevailing professional norms. A national design group has identified a set of core elements that appear to contribute to continuous improvement of instruction. Such elements include, but are not limited to: effective use of accomplished teachers, use of research-based practices, and district focus and coherence. Putting these (and other) key elements in place affects all aspects of the school district: the organization of schools, the allocation of resources, the roles and responsibilities of central office personnel, the professional development system, district policies, and the mobilization of community support and resources. Through partnerships with a few districts The Learning Partnership seeks to integrate elements of practice and policies that show promise of promoting a coherent instructional improvement strategy. The work is co-constructed with districts to fit their context, but the focus is on implementing the core elements in a coherent and aligned manner over time, and making adjustments as new evidence accrues. The issue of scale is addressed by involving key stakeholders, building system capacity, embedding key ideas in tools, and aligning policies. Both the IIS and The Learning Partnership efforts provide the Network with an opportunity to undertake problem-solving R&D in real schools and districts and on a large scale. Because the two projects take place in complex, urban districts, they will expose the many ways social and political context can support or inhibit productive school reform, and they will need to develop mechanisms to overcome obstacles they encounter in implementing evidence-based practices. The Network regularly devotes a good portion of its quarterly meetings to discussions of the progress and challenges these two projects encounter as they conduct their work, and it advises new developments going forward. As the Meta-study brings other project leaders and case studies to the attention of the Network, these two projects will have opportunities to benefit from the experiences of colleagues outside of the Network. < top
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Organization
MacArthur research networks, "research institutions without walls," are Foundation-initiated projects that bring together highly talented individuals from a broad spectrum of disciplines, perspectives, and research methods. The networks explore basic theoretical issues and empirical questions that will increase the understanding of fundamental social issues and are likely to yield significant improvements in policy and practice. Network members meet four times a year at various locations around the country, and guests are invited to each meeting to inform the network’s mission and projects. Project work is conducted at members own research institutions, or in the field. Contact Us
Framing the Problem | The Work of the Network | Projects | Organization | Contact Us < top |