Given the rapid growth of research-practice partnerships (RPPs), we need a framework that helps the field understand how RPPs can facilitate organizational learning in service of local educational improvement and transformation. Drawing on sociocultural and organizational learning theories, we argue that learning can happen for the organizations…

Educational researchers are increasingly expected to focus on their research productivity as per their professional performance. Such a trend may have influenced their professional identities and activities, especially in the Global South, where researchers have not been immersed in the new research culture and where their assumed primary role may…

Interest in the study of scale has grown over the past three decades, yet it still suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity. Despite attempts at conceptualizing scale, there is still wide diversity in how the term "scale" is used. These differences matter. They impact how scale is studied, the strategies used to achieve scale, and the…

Policymakers, funders, and researchers today view "research-practice partnerships" (RPPs) as a promising approach for expanding the role of research in improving educational practice. Although studies in other fields provide evidence of the potential for RPPs, studies in education are few. This article provides a review of available…

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the quest for civil rights by African Americans and other groups of color reverberated throughout the United States and the world, including within educational professional and research organizations, such as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Council of…

In this 2012 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Presidential Address, the author considers this year's conference theme--how to take what we know from research and put it to effective (policy and practice) use. The essay challenges members individually and collectively to improve the connection. She reflects on the history of AERA as…

Seventeen years ago Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) published the landmark article "Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy," giving a coherent theoretical statement for resource pedagogies that had been building throughout the 1970s and 1980s. I, like countless teachers and university-based researchers, have been inspired by what it means…

This article describes elements of an approach to research and development called "design-based implementation research." The approach represents an expansion of design research, which typically focuses on classrooms, to include development and testing of innovations that foster alignment and coordination of supports for improving…

Explores the relationship between theory and practice in education, discusses the characteristics of the different types of rationality, that is, episteme (scientific understanding) versus phronesis (practical wisdom), and examines the consequences for teacher education of the shift from episteme to phronesis. A revaluation of practical knowledge…

Discusses the functions of educational research. Examines differences between decision-oriented research and conclusion-oriented research. Urges researchers to improve the quality of their writing. (FMW)

Uses the literature on teacher change and learning to teach, and examples from a teacher change research project, to examine how research can be used to bring about change in teaching practices. Suggests that the empirical premises derived from research, combined with a teacher's practical knowledge, can produce teacher change. (FMW)

Presents excerpts from a symposium in Charlottesville (VA) at which researchers, policymakers, and journalists discussed educational issues and the relationship of research to reform. Discusses issues concerning communication problems between groups and why it is important to keep talking with each other. Explores ways of improving the…

Explores reasons for the tenuous relationship between educational research and educational practice. Suggests changes in research and policy to bring educational research directly to bear on educational problems. The major problem is that researchers are searching for variables that relate to improved outcomes, whereas educational innovators are…