State Education Department Acquisition and Use of Research in School Improvement

• In Event: Diverse Perspectives on Understanding the Policy Uses of Education Research

Abstract

Over the last two decades, federal and state laws and grant programs such as state accountability polices, the No Child Left Behind Act, Race to the Top and Title I School Improvement Grants, have given state education agencies (SEAs) considerably more responsibilities for directing and guiding the improvement of low-performing schools. Although studies exist of districts’ and schools’ use of research, we know little about how SEAs search for, select and use research and other kinds of evidence in their school improvement strategies.

This paper is based on a three-state, multi-methods exploratory study that was designed to address this gap. Using a conceptual framework based on knowledge utilization studies, organization literature, school improvement research, and policy and evaluation research, we examine the types and forms of evidence SEA staff seek and use in their school improvement activities (e.g., research-based, data, practitioner knowledge) and the sources of that knowledge (particularly the role of intermediary organizations), how SEAs search for, access and use this evidence (paying attention to user-source interaction), and how organizational structures, relationships within and outside the agency, and political and policy contexts influence these activities.

The data include in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of SEA staff involved in school improvement and related programs (accountability, special programs, teacher policy), external organizations providing research, and a survey sent to all SEA school improvement staff and a representative sample of all other SEA professional staff. We analyze 49 interviews and over 300 completed surveys across the three states, as well as documents describing SEA school improvement policies designed for LEA and school use.

We found that organizational and contextual factors, such as the hierarchical and lateral SEA management structures and staff size, influenced several dimensions of research search and incorporation. All three SEAs turned to external intermediary organizations to provide substantive, research-based knowledge in the design of their school improvement strategies, although the form of this knowledge differed across states. External intermediaries and consultants also staffed the implementation of school improvement policies and became an important avenue for practitioner knowledge and feedback on the work. SEA staff reductions and other factors motivated the development of internal, cross-divisional team structures to coordinate information, and share resources and expertise. We found that when cross-divisional teams were project-based and longer-term, they were better able to modify and use research and bring multiple types of expertise to bear on their current practices.

The findings from this study will help SEAs become more strategic consumers and users of research, contribute to new understandings about how intermediaries can effectively share and improve the use of research in the SEA setting, and add to the literature on research utilization by examining its use in an understudied context.

Authors

• Margaret E. Goertz, University of Pennsylvania

• Diane Massell, University of Michigan