educational leadersThe National Center for Research in Policy and Practice studies how educational leaders—including school district supervisors and principals—use research when making decisions and what can be done to make research findings more useful and relevant for those leaders.

“We know very little about how people in district offices and schools actually use evidence from research studies to inform their decisions,” said CU-Boulder School of Education Professor Bill Penuel, lead investigator for the project.

NCRPP aims to change that by focusing on three areas: studying current research use in districts and schools, identifying what conditions affect when research is used, and determining ways that research could be made more meaningful for educational leaders through long-term partnerships between researchers and practitioners. The center’s approach will be guided by what is known already about research use by educational leaders—that opportunities for leaders to interact with colleagues and researchers are critical.