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There is growing interest in research-practice partnerships (RPPs)--collaborations between researchers and practitioners formed to investigate problems of practice and solutions for improving educational outcomes. Advocates argue that such partnerships enable greater research use in decision making and address persistent issues in education. Funders including the Institute for Education Sciences and the National Science Foundation, share enthusiasm for the approach and are investing considerable resources to develop new RPPs. Despite large investments from funders to develop and support RPPs in education, there has been little systematic research on them creating a need for comparative studies of RPPs. In 2013, IES launched the Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research program, which is referred to in this report as the RPP program. This program was part of a focus on partnerships as a strategy to support rigorous, relevant research that meets the needs of local communities and builds local capacity. The two year grant program supports exploratory research within a partnership context. Researchers and practitioners collaborate on a research project to explore a problem of practice, identify strategies to address the key issues, and engage in preliminary design work related to the problem of practice. This interim report presents the results of the first phase of the study regarding questions that are detailed in the following areas: (1) Goals of the Partnerships; (2) Conducting and Using Research Partnerships; (3) Activities of the Partnerships; (4) Communication within Partnerships; (5) Challenges to Working in Partnerships; (6) Perceptions of the Partnerships; (7) Planned Future Activities of Partnerships; and (8) Guidance for IES. The instrument development process, sampling strategy and key constructs are described. Preliminary analysis related the the questions detailed in the report are then offered. The findings of this study can inform the IES RPP program and also contribute to knowledge about the processes, successes, and challenges of RPPs in education. This work also provides information about the reported value of these collaborative efforts for researchers and practitioners interested in developing partnerships. Key conclusions, open questions, and next steps are also are discussed. [For "Descriptive Study of the IES Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research Program: Final Report. Technical Report No. 3," see ED599980.]

Since its establishment in 2002, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education has funded dozens of field-initiated efficacy and scale-up studies of interventions, released multiple evaluation studies of major policy initiatives, supported rigorous studies of programs through the Regional Educational Laboratories, and funded training grants to prepare new scholars to conduct high quality research in education. Still there is limited understanding of how educational leaders access and use research. Developing knowledge about when leaders seek out research, where leaders find it, and the purposes for which they use it is critical if education research is to inform policy and practice. To date, a key obstacle to studying research use at scale has been the absence of valid survey measures. Though a number of studies have examined uses of research through interview, observation, and case study methods, survey measures adequate for drawing inferences about how leaders use research have not been developed. This report presents results of the efforts of the National Center for Research in Policy and Practice (NCRPP) to address this need. The NCRPP is an IES-funded center focused on the study of knowledge utilization among school and district leaders in the United States. To develop an understanding of how school and district leaders use research, a survey of research use was developed and administered to a nationally representative sample of school and district leaders. The following questions were asked: (1) How frequently do school and district leaders use research and for what purposes; (2) What research do school and district leaders find useful; (3) What are leaders' attitudes toward research; and (4) Where do leaders access research? This report describes the instrument development process, the generation of the sample, the reliability of survey scales used and the ability of scales to discriminate among respondents with different types of attitudes, and the frequency distributions for responses to most items. Key conclusions and next steps are discussed.

Data-based instructional programs have proliferated in American schools despite limited evidence of their effectiveness in improving educator practice and raising student achievement. We report results from a two-year school-randomized evaluation of the Achievement Network (ANet), a program providing schools with standards-aligned interim assessments and intensive supports for instructional data use. Survey data show that ANet increased teacher satisfaction with the timeliness and clarity of the data they receive and available supports for instructional data-use and caused them to review and use interim assessment data more often. ANet did not, however, affect their confidence in data use or how frequently they differentiated instruction. Student impact estimates show no overall effect on student achievement in English language arts or mathematics. Despite the lack program effects on student achievement, we find that achievement is positively correlated with our survey-based measures of teacher perceptions and practices around instructional data use. Exploratory analyses suggest that the success of ANet in improving teacher practice and student achievement varies with the pre-existing capacity of schools to engage in data-based instruction. Schools rated by program staff as having a high level of readiness to implement the intervention prior to random assignment experienced positive impacts on student achievement, while those rated as a having a low level of readiness experienced negative impacts. The following are appended: (1) School Screener Scoring Rubric; (2) Year 2 School Leader and Teacher Survey Scale Items; and (3) School Leader and Teacher Survey Impact Tables.

Teachers are the most important school-level factor in student success--but as any parent knows, all teachers are not created equal. Reforms to the current quite cursory teacher evaluation system, if done well, have the potential to remove the worst-performing teachers and, even more important, to assist the majority in improving their craft. However, the US educational system often cannibalizes its own innovations, destroying their potential with a steady drip of rules, regulations, bureaucracy, and accommodations to the status quo. Because that status quo sets an unacceptably low bar for teaching quality, missing this opportunity now means new generations of students may suffer mediocre--or worse--classrooms. (Contains 7 notes.)

The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures. This policy brief examines how some states and districts are currently easing the transition into high school for students. It focuses on five key challenges that states, districts and schools should address to support a successful transition into high school, particularly for students who are at high risk of failure. A list of additional resources is provided. (Contains 1 endnote.) [This brief was edited by Louise Kennelly and was produced by the National High School Center. For related document, see ED501073.]

This best practices piece is based on key research into high school transition strategies. It draws on two studies of high school reform models conducted by MDRC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, which shed light on promising strategies to support ninth-grade students. Increasing the capacity of high schools to provide extra help for ninth-grade students to catch up, to learn to read well, and to earn credits in English and algebra is critical, as these academic achievements are key predictors of whether students are likely to graduate on time (Quint, 2006). Transitions into high school can be eased when both structural and specialized curricula reforms are in place. This brief offers several take-aways at the state, district, and school levels. A list of additional resources is provided. (Contains 3 endnotes.) [This publication was produced by the National High School Center. For related document, see ED501073.]

The National High School Center released methods for improving low-performing high schools based on some of the most rigorous research currently available in the school reform arena. This research brief identifies lessons learned as well as key practices used to strengthen high schools and is based on evaluations of four widely used high school improvement programs: Career Academies, First Things First, Project GRAD, and Talent Development. Findings from these evaluations suggest that positive change is associated with a combination of instructional improvement and structural changes in school organization and class schedules. The brief is organized according to five cross-cutting challenges that high schools face in seeking to influence student outcomes: (1) Assisting students who enter high school with poor academic skills; (2) Improving instructional content and practice; (3) Creating a personalized and orderly learning environment; (4) Providing work-based learning opportunities and preparing students for the world beyond high school; and (5) Stimulating change in overstressed high schools. (Contains 1 table.) [This report was produced by the National High School Center.]

This report examines the experiences of three large urban school districts (and part of a fourth) that raised academic performance for their districts as a whole, while also reducing racial differences in achievement. Educational challenges included low achievement, political conflict, inexperienced teachers, low expectations, and lack of instructional coherence. The research involved case studies of these districts and comparisons with other districts that had not yet seen similar improvements. Researchers conducted site visits to each district, interviews with key district-level actors, focus groups, teachers, and principals, as well as document reviews. Results indicated that political and organizational stability over a prolonged period and consensus on educational reform strategies were necessary prerequisites to meaningful change. Districts faced systemic challenges above the individual school level. They lacked clarity regarding instructional standards and had a wide variety of educational strategies and instructional approaches. To achieve instructional coherence, districts adopted or developed their own, uniform, relatively prescriptive reading and math curricula for the elementary grades. The districts used data to guide instruction and decision making. Leaders in these districts invested substantial amounts of time, effort, and resources in changing district culture and creating a systemwide consensus for reform. Appendices contain profiles of the case study and comparison districts, as well New York City's Chancellor's District. (Contains 26 references.) (SM)

Teachers are the most important school-level factor in student success--but as any parent knows, all teachers are not created equal. Reforms to the current quite cursory teacher evaluation system, if done well, have the potential to remove the worst-performing teachers and, even more important, to assist the majority in improving their craft. However, the US educational system often cannibalizes its own innovations, destroying their potential with a steady drip of rules, regulations, bureaucracy, and accommodations to the status quo. Because that status quo sets an unacceptably low bar for teaching quality, missing this opportunity now means new generations of students may suffer mediocre--or worse--classrooms., Where We Are Political will to overturn the existing teacher evaluation system has been growing for almost two decades, culminating recently in the federal Race to the Top legislation and [...]