Building Time for Equity: National Research Translation and Use in 2014

• In Event: 61.036 - Exploring Learning Time as a Core Resource for Educational Equity and Achievement

Abstract

In 2012 The Ford Foundation asked our Institute to develop a model for measuring equitable education reform that both builds capacity and generates new knowledge for the field. We embarked on a two-year process including extensive research and deep engagement with over 40 partner organizations in the Ford Foundation’s More and Better Learning Time Initiative. This participatory research process included interviews, a series of national convenings with multiple stakeholder groups, and collaborations across research organizations. This paper documents our results: an Indicators Framework that identifies, defines and provides examples of 24 learning time indicators that matter most to students, schools, and systems working towards equity.

After developing the Framework, our Institute implemented a comprehensive strategic dissemination plan. This included developing an accessible academic report; an interactive web-tool that allows a range of audiences to access and delve deeper into the indicators most relevant to their own work; a special edition of a practitioner journal; public commentaries; and an extensive social media release. From the outset, our Institute and the Foundation saw the Framework as only first step. We hoped to build from it to further engage partners in increasing their capacity to collecting and analyzing the indicators to improve practice and influence public policy. This paper describes these strategic dissemination methods, discusses how and why each strategy was developed, their impact, and how these methods update what is currently known about research utilization in education policymaking.

The development of a collectively owned Framework, widely accessible research formats and dissemination strategies, and a process for ongoing engagement goes well beyond the scope of traditional academic research. In their landmark study, Weiss & Bucuvalas (1980) explained that academic research is used to raise an issue to the attention of government decision makers, formulate new government policies or programs, evaluate the merit of different action proposals, suggest improvements to existing programs, mobilize support for a position or point of view, and change the way people think about an issue. While these are critical functions, there is a bias towards research utilization in the policy process—the goal is to understand how researchers or research can best meet the needs of the policymaker specifically (Lindblom, 1990). More recently, Finnegan and Daly (2014) edited a volume that highlights the challenges and opportunities of using research in current education policymaking using a broader set of targets, contexts and processes.

This paper fits into this revitalized examination of the use of education research. We are theoretically driven by the notion that while it is critical to continue to examine research use as a phenomenon, it is equally critical for education researchers to learn how to more effectively translate and communicate research evidence and to rethink the relationship between research producer and user. We will present an analysis of our engaged research methods, dissemination methods and impact to engage session participants/readers in reflecting on their own efforts to communicate their research to the public.

Authors

• Michelle Renée Valladares, University of Colorado Boulder

• Marisa Saunders, Annenberg Institute for School Reform

• Ruth María López, Brown University

• Jaime Del Razo, Brown University