The current educational policy climate in the USA places immense pressure on school district central offices to use evidence to inform their decisions in order to improve student learning. In light of both the expectations of evidence-based decision making and the significance of central offices in supporting teaching and learning, there is…

A variety of interventions have been attempted in education and other fields to increase the use of research use in policy and practice. However, there is still limited research on the impact of these interventions. This paper uses survey and qualitative data to analyze three interventions designed to increase research use among secondary school…

Many researchers and research funders want their work to be influential in educational policy and practice, but there is little systematic understanding of how policymakers and practitioners use research evidence, much less how they acquire or interpret it. By understanding what does shape policymakers' and practitioners' decision making and the…

District central office administrators increasingly face policy demands to use "evidence" in their decision making. These demands up the ante on education policy researchers and policy makers to better understand what evidence use in district central offices entails and the conditions that may support it. To that end, the authors conducted a…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article analyzes two National Institute of Education programs--the Research and Development Utilization Program and the Experimental Schools Program--and finds that a key reason for nonutilization of research is the "policy vacuum" in which research is conducted.…

This volume presents in one collection a systematic inventory of research and analytic procedures appropriate for generating information on knowledge production, diffusion, and utilization, gathered by the University of Pittsburgh Program for the Study of Knowledge Use. The main concern is with those procedures that focus on the utilization of…

The University of Pittsburgh Program for the Study of Knowledge Use is conducting methodological research on knowledge use and school improvement. The Pittsburgh Program, established in 1978, is an interdisciplinary program designed to conduct research, provide instruction, and offer technical services. Specifically, the purposes of the program…

An evaluation of the extent to which research influences decision making in vocational education and training (VET) at the policy level necessitates consideration of these three areas: (1) decision making; (2) research; and (3) linkages. First, the impact of research on decision making incorporates these two elements: (1) use; and (2) influence.…

The Diffusion of Appropriate Educational Technology in Open and Distance Learning in Developing Countries project was designed to determine awareness and use of educational technologies and communications media in developing countries, to identify factors constraining wider use of educational technologies by developing nations, and to explore…