A Theory-Led Evaluation of a Scalable Intervention to Promote Evidence-Based, Research-Informed Practice in Schools to Address Attainment Gaps

Abstract

Evidence-based practice is a salient solution that has been presented to address the persistent educational attainment gap linked to economic disadvantage. However, most schools do not engage with research, and we know little about facilitating school-led research use at scale. Linking different approaches to studying educational effectiveness, equity and change, and drawing on cultural-historical activity theory, this study develops intermediate theory about the mechanisms influencing institutions’ success in using research. In the context of the Opportunity Area Programme, supporting place-based interventions in the UK’s most socio-economically disadvantaged regions, we conducted a theory-led evaluation of the Evidence-Based Practice Fund (EBPF), aimed at supporting school-led research engagement to improve learning outcomes. We analysed the documentation of 83 EBPF projects, 8 focus groups, and a school survey. We demonstrate that enabling schools to address locally identified needs motivates research engagement but formulating these as stimulus for change requires scaffolding. Schools were keen but needed re-translation to use research to address those challenges. Low-key school-to-school support was found adequate. Leadership support and collaboration were significant but require relational expertise and professional learning to be effective. This study demonstrates that the use of research by schools at scale is possible and can transform a school’s agency in developing their own practice to improve equity.

The Use of Research in Schools: Principals’ Capacity and Contributions

“…Reports about organizational decision making suggest that there is a need for principals to engage in diagnosing needs and focusing improvement efforts in ways that may make the process and value of using research clearer, which may result in more appropriate and impactful decisions. Similar points are emphasized in the research of Hoffman and Illie [11], who articulate specific challenges faced in research-informed improvement related to articulating and defining outcomes and identifying appropriate research to inform action, among other challenges, leading the authors to emphasize that such work is not merely a tweaking practice but far more substantial and, therefore, in need of particular forms of leadership.…”

“…Efforts in this have predominantly focused on improving accessibility to research through initiatives like clearinghouses [6] and collaborative research endeavors like research-practice partnerships (RPPs) [7]. However, there has been a notable lack of attention paid to understanding and building organizational capacity for evidence use within schools, in contrast to, for example, the U.K, where there have been longstanding efforts to promote "research engaged schools" (e.g., [8][9][10]), albeit with mixed success [11].…”

Patterns in Clinical Leadership Learning: Understanding the Quality of Learning about Leadership to Support Sustainable Transformation in Healthcare Education

“…As the authors in this Special Issue discuss, it is important for sustainability that educational organisations of different types conduct their own research on their practice and local learning objectives [107]. This requires practically feasible yet robust tools for local evidence-generation [108,109]. As the Leadership Learning Inventory proposed is very short (12 items in total) and its outputs easy to analyse, it also lends itself well to practical use in local evaluation and continual enhancement of leadership PD provision by a range of stakeholders in policy and practice contexts without requiring academic researchers' input.…”