This chapter briefly describes the kinds of educational research centers active in France and the types of research they are conducting, then focuses on developments in the field of educational research from 1930 to the present and on the impact research has had on policy and innovations in recent years. In the section on history it is noted that from 1930 to 1950 research centered on educational and professional guidance, on educational psychology, and on experimental education. From 1950 to 1968 university-based research concentrated on the economics of education, the sociology of education, the application of linguistics to the teaching of French as a foreign language, and instructional psychology. Between 1968 and 1975 educational research sparked a significant number of major innovations. This activity prompted major efforts at evaluation research since 1975. The section on the impact of research notes the dominance that sociological research and curricular innovation have exerted in both the area of practice and the area of politics and educational policy and governance. The chapter concludes with observations on the impact of France's governmental structure on educational research and innovation. (PGD)