Policymakers

Who Picks Educational Products? Including Unheard Voices in Procurement

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

Research suggests that the use of evidence-based and other high-quality instructional materials can offer significant improvements to learning outcomes. But how do evidence-based educational products make it into the hands of students and teachers?

The Latest Takes on Generative AI in Education

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

Generative AI is taking center stage at many education conferences this year. Educators, administrators, developers, investors, policymakers, and researchers across the land are trying to figure out what these technologies mean for the future.

Designing and Scaling for Educational Impact in Rural Communities: Five Takeaways for Researchers and Developers

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

The LEARN network recently hosted a panel discussion with scholars and practitioners who understand the unique considerations required to design, research, and scale evidence-based products in and across rural communities.

Scaling for System-Level Change: A Conversation with Suzanne Donovan and Vanessa Coleman

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

Suzanne Donovan, executive director of the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) Institute, and Vanessa Coleman, co-director of SRI’s Center for Education Research & Innovation, recently sat down for a conversation with LEARN Network’s Kori Hamilton Biagas to discuss scaling innovations that disrupt inequity and create system-level change.

Scaling for System-Level Change: A Conversation with Suzanne Donovan and Vanessa Coleman Video

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

In this video from the Learn Network’s Stories of Scaling series, Suzanne Donovan, executive director of the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) Institute, and Vanessa Coleman, co-director of SRI’s Center for Education Research & Innovation, sit down for a conversation with LEARN Network’s Kori Hamilton Biagas.

Taking the First Step: Strategies for Effective Knowledge Mobilization

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

Blog 2 in a two-part series on knowledge mobilization. In this second blog post, I’ll focus on how you can develop your own knowledge mobilization strategy and discuss some concrete first steps you can take. I build from the three key lessons learned in the first blog post, adding what we’ve learned about effective knowledge mobilization practices from those in the field actually doing this work.

Mobilizing Knowledge Along the Path from Research to Practice

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

Blog 1 in a two-part series on knowledge mobilization. One of the truths I’ve learned over my time as an education researcher is that most scholars want to make a difference. Most of us got into this business because we felt we care about and want to do work that matters. We want to make a difference in the field, to what happens in schools, and to the lives of children and families.

Strategies for Bridging the Research-Practice Gap in Education

Authors : Kate Borelli

One of the central goals of the LEARN Network is to help educational products that already have a strong evidence base achieve scale. Despite strong evidence demonstrating their efficacy in improving learner outcomes, many educational products do not wind up in the hands of educators. A common misconception explaining this phenomenon is that education practitioners (superintendents, curriculum and instruction leaders, and principals) do not prioritize using research-based solutions.

What does it mean to “scale” an educational product?

Authors : Jennifer Medeiros

“Scaling” a product in business typically means moving from a small number of “early adopters” to a larger number of “early majority” users. In the field of education, however, “scaling” an educational product or program has been more challenging to define.

New IES network seeks to scale solutions to learning loss

Authors : Patti Schank

The Leveraging Evidence to Accelerate Recovery Nationwide (LEARN) network, a new three-year grant funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and led by SRI International, constitutes one element of the federal strategy to address both long-standing student learning achievement gaps and those exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.