Research at the Junctures: Investigating How Routines Shape Research Use in District Leader Decision Making

• In Event: The Role of District in School Policy, Improvement, and Change

Abstract

Policymakers have increasingly urged district leaders to use research in their decision-making. However, we know little about the conditions under which district leaders use research. We examine how organizational routines shape district leader research use in literacy decision-making. Drawing on 89 interviews in four school districts, we argue that a prevalent form of research use involved district leaders embedding research into the artifacts, such slide decks, that they designed to guide the delivery of professional development. However, the degree to which research actually informed the delivery of professional development depended on the connections between routines. Our findings highlight the importance of artifacts, such as slide decks, as carriers of research, and show how connections between routines shape research use.

Authors

• Angel Bohannon, Northwestern University

• Cynthia E. Coburn, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy Human Development and Social Policy

• James P. Spillane, Northwestern University

• Riley Ceperich, Northwestern University

• Annie Allen, University of Colorado - Boulder