This paper suggests that there is an underlying political revolution in educational governance. Furthermore, there is a need for concern with the changes needed in the roles of researchers and state policy level policy makers in order for research to play a significant part in helping shape reform in education. Given the present political conditions there are unusual dangers for researchers trying to serve state policy makers. The initiative for educational changes has shifted from the local district to the national government and subsequently to state leadership. The legislative patterns of recent years have increased further the separation between responsibility and operation. Increased centralization at the state level is combined with the creation of multiple new points of access in educational governments ranging from teacher negotiations to site level parent advisory committees. This is the context within which the state policy maker is asking the educational researcher to provide data for his predetermined solutions. The researcher is asked to make antithetical policies work despite their inconsistencies. The central question for the educational research community concerns the nature of the research community's role in educational policy making. (Author/AM)