Democratizing Educational Innovation and Improvement: The Policy Contexts of Improvement Research in Education - CPRE Working Paper No. 21 - Discussion and analysis

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Connor

The essay advances understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, focusing on macro-level policy contexts for improvement research. In the US, it contrasts emergent improvement movements with an institutionalized evidence movement and offers a historical view through a “geological analysis” of education reform. It frames improvement layers atop policy contexts and considers policy-level and local-level shifts, supporting new discourse and comparative international research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Core aim and scope

US policy context and historical framing

Analytical approach and implications

Preparation and publication information

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons | CPRE Working Papers | Consortium for Policy Research in Education
(CPRE) | | --- | --- | | 8-2021
Democratizing Educational Innovation and Improvement: The Policy Contexts of Improvement Research in Education
Donald J. Peurach
The University Of Michigan
Anna T. Foster
The University Of Michigan
Angela M. Lyle
The University Of Michigan
Emily R. Seeber
The University Of Michigan
Follow this and additional works at: [https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers](https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers)
Part of the Education Commons | | Recommended Citation Peurach, Donald J.; Foster, Anna T.; Lyle, Angela M.; and Seeber, Emily R.. (2021) . Democratizing Educational Innovation and Improvement: The Policy Contexts of Improvement Research in Education. CPRE Working Papers. Retrieved from [https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27](https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27) This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. [https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27](https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27)[ ](https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27)For more information, please contact [repository@pobox.upenn.edu](repository@pobox.upenn.edu). Democratizing Educational Innovation and Improvement: The Policy Contexts of Improvement Research in Education Abstract The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a contemporary perspective, with an emergent improvement movement in tension with an institutionalized evidence movement. By contrast, this essay provides an historical perspective through a “geological analysis” of US education reform. This analysis has the improvement movement atop macro-level policy contexts that are layers-deep, and as potentially integral to a public education enterprise that has been evolving for centuries: at the policy level, from resourceforward to practice-forward innovation and improvement; at the local level, from school systems to education systems to learning systems. This analytic approach and framework suggest the need for anew discourse about efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US, as well as possibilities for comparative and international research examining parallel developments in other countries. This essay was prepared as a contribution to The Foundational Handbook on Improvement Research in Education. Keywords innovation, improvement, policy, research, knowledge production, knowledge use, systems, mass schooling, markets, infrastructure, evidence, practice, resource-forward, practice-forward Disciplines Education This working paper is available at ScholarlyCommons: [https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27](https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_workingpapers/27) CPRE WORKING PAPER No. 21—03 Democratizing Educational Innovation and Improvement: The Policy Contexts of Improvement Research in Education Donald J. Peurach, Anna T. Foster, Angela M. Lyle, Emily R. Seeber University of Michigan ABSTRACT The aim of this essay is to advance understandings of current efforts to democratize disciplined approaches to educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries, with a specific focus on the macro-level policy contexts of improvement research in education. In the US, earlier analyses examined these policy contexts from a contemporary perspective, with an emergent improvement movement in tension with an institutionalized evidence movement. By contrast, this essay provides an historical perspective through a “geological analysis” of US education reform. This

FAQs

What is the main focus of the essay?

It focuses on macro-level policy contexts of improvement research related to efforts to democratize educational innovation and improvement in the US and other countries.

How does the essay describe the US tension it builds on?

It describes earlier analyses as examining policy contexts amid an emergent improvement movement that is in tension with an institutionalized evidence movement.

What analytical perspective does the essay use to examine education reform?

It uses a historical “geological analysis” of US education reform, treating improvement movements as layered atop macro-level policy contexts.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Connor