This paper is a preliminary exploration of how doctoral study can increase educational leaders' capacity to use evidence. Our mixed methods study uses interviews and surveys of graduates from four EdD programs. Methods training linked to students' work and social capital development among students and with faculty both influenced graduates, use of…

Social work education prioritizes the use of research to inform practice. As university students, prospective social workers have a wealth of research available to them as well as librarians to help them find, evaluate, and use that information. However, access to much of this research ends once the student graduates - at a time when it is most…

Background: Brokers, intermediaries, and boundary spanners (BIBS) bridge research and policy or practice, and can elevate the role of evidence in decision making. However, there is limited integration of the literature across different sectors to understand the strategies that BIBS use, the skills needed to carry out these strategies, and the…

In the 1970s, the role of "chief scientist" was established in Israel as part of a knowledge mediation model aimed to promote research-informed policy and narrow the academia-field-policy gap. This paper examines how when researchers cross the boundary toward a policy role and serve as knowledge brokers, they may promote research…

This study examines the research impact of gold open access (OA) journals in engineering and technology. A total of 37 gold route journals that request article processing charges (APC) and 66 other OA journals without APC (i.e., platinum OA) in the field were found in the Directory of Open Access Journals and used for the study. The publishers,…

The role of district research leaders (DRLs) in central offices has emerged as a strategy for improving the creation, flow, and use of research knowledge in decision-making. However, there is limited information about the responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges inherent in these roles. This exploratory qualitative study features document…

The Every Student Succeeds Act builds on prior efforts to bridge the gap between research and practice through the imposition of evidence requirements. This article presents findings from a small-scale micro-process study of three districts in one state during their first year of implementing those requirements. Informed by past conceptualizations…

This chapter calls for researchers to reconceptualize research quality from the perspective of its expected use, attending to power dynamics that influence how knowledge is defined, constructed, and validated through the research enterprise. Addressing these concerns when designing and conducting education research can yield more useful research…

Using congressional testimony on teacher quality from 2003 to 2015 and analysis of 60 elite interviews, we show how the political economy of knowledge production influences idea uptake in education policy discourse. We develop and assess a conceptual framework showing the organizational and financial infrastructure that links research, ideas, and…

Although interest in ESE policy studies is on the rise, we argue there is a gap in scholarship about the nature and extent of interactions between policymakers and researchers in the ESE field. This paper addresses this gap by discussing one example of such interaction -- an ongoing research-practice partnership (RPP) between the New York City…

Background: In today's era of evidence-based policymaking, policymakers face pressure to use research evidence to inform their decisions. This is particularly salient in the United States, where federal law mandates that education leaders implement policies, programs, and strategies that have been demonstrated to improve student outcomes. Despite…

Background: Knowledge brokering by intermediary organizations includes knowledge distillation processes (e.g., synthesis, translation). Aims and objectives: This article explores how an educational intermediary performs research distillation when creating virtual knowledge reservoirs for educators. Methods: The authors use qualitative data from…

Sustainability is a fundamental value that all organizations strive to achieve, including universities. Some academics argue that sustainability is not only a principle to which universities should commit, but also that they have the potential to accelerate its implementation and catalyze social change towards more sustainable practices. This…

Many research funding and research performing organizations evaluate their operations or are subject to evaluations. A Working Group within Science Europe undertook to illustrate how "ex post" evaluation of research is actually used. Based on 11 case studies from seven organizations and countries, we explore the use of evaluation studies…

Background: Timely access to relevant and trustworthy research findings is an important facilitator of research use. But the relational aspects of evidence generation, mobilisation and use have been insufficiently explored. Aims and objectives: Our aim is to describe the strategic communicative and relational work of two intermediary organisations…