A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Meeting the Information Needs of Education Policymakers - August 1997

Introduction

The National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policymaking, and Management helps state and local policymakers and educators use knowledge from research to govern, fund, lead, and manage elementary and secondary schools. Policymakers and education leaders--including governors, state legislators, chief state school officers, school board members, local superintendents, principals and teacher leaders--are key consumers of research information. They make complex, far-reaching decisions about how to spend billions of public dollars. They establish the conditions and requirements that govern public education for millions of children across districts or states. They have primary responsibility for implementing education laws and charting a course for their education agencies. They must struggle with features of the legislative process that frequently work against systemic policies and long-term planning. They must balance a host of political and community pressures while trying to keep the focus on quality teaching and learning. To carry out these duties, policymakers and education leaders need high-quality, objective research information, written in language they can understand and delivered in time to inform their decisions.

This document summarizes what thoughtful policymakers have said are the most critical issues and research needs facing them. It is based on the views of policymakers and leaders themselves as expressed at a planning forum sponsored by the Institute and in papers commissioned for that forum. Their views about research agendas, topics, and formats provide a foundation for a program of education research and development that will be both useful and timely. The first section of this document identifies and examines some critical issues for future research, grouped by the following major themes:

Issues related to the inputs and outcomes of education, including issues of financing education, getting the best return on educational investments, and instilling meaningful accountability.
Issues related to the structure and process of education, including issues of revising governance arrangements and connecting governance and policy with changes in classrooms.
Issues related to the core of teaching and learning, including issues of preparing teachers to implement reform.
Issues related to the broader context of education, including issues of building public support for education and addressing demographic and social factors that affect education.

A subsequent section of the document summarizes policymakers' ideas about how to effectively present and disseminate research information to a policy audience. A final section discusses strategies for encouraging ongoing dialogue between policymakers and researchers.

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[Executive Summary]

[Critical Issues for a National Research Agenda]