How Educational Leaders Conceptualise the Usefulness of Academic Research to Support their Decision-Making

Oct 15, 2026

Given the pace of their work, school administrators struggle to locate academic research that is locally relevant and actionable for daily decision-making. To address this, Scott Tunison designed a strategy that filters research for local problems of practice and distributes it across a mid-sized Canadian K-12 school district. The paper describes the approach and reports early evidence on its effectiveness. Findings show general value recognition, yet persistent barriers—time, access, technical language, and perceived relevance—limit translation into practice; participants’ recommendations are discussed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Research–Practice Gap and Critiques

Barriers to Research Use

Training and Instructional Limits

System-Level Divides

Pressure to Change and “What Works” Focus

How Educational Leaders Conceptualise the Usefulness of Academic Research to Support their Decision-Making Scott Tunison University of Saskatchewan Abstract Given the pace of their work, school administrators often find it difficult to sift through the massive volume of primary academic research produced each year to find specific pieces that might be useful to inform their practice. In response to this issue, the author developed and implemented a strategy to filter research for local relevance and distribute that research to preKindergarten-Grade 12 administrators ina mid-sized Canadian school district. This paper provides a brief description of the strategy and reports a portion of the results from a study examining the efficacy of the strategy. Since the strategy surfaced research specifically connected to local problems of practice, it was anticipated that participants would (i) see value in research, at least if it was explicitly connected to local issues, and (ii) actually consult research to inform their work. Findings included a general acknowledgement from participants that academic research has the potential to support leaders’ practice. However, many noted barriers such as time, access, syntax, and relevance that made it challenging to translate research findings into actual practice. Respondents’ suggestions to make academic research more useful for them are discussed. Keywords: research use, educational decision-making, evidence-informed practice, school-based leadership, educational administration, knowledge mobilisation Around the turn of the century, there was a confluence of unflattering commentary about educational researchers and the work they do. For example, Elliott (2001), in his call for wholesale change in the educational research paradigm, argued that research should be redirected towards the systematic development of a body of knowledge that is capable of informing the practical in-service judgments ofteachers. Similarly, Slavin, in his 2002 Dewitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Distinguished Lecture, proclaimed that education was on “the brink of a scientific revolution that has the potential to profoundly transform policy, practice, and [the nature of] research [itself]”(p. 15). This revolution, he argued, would usher in profound improvements across the entire spectrum of the educational enterprise because research would be of “genuinely …high quality and … appropriate to inform the decisions that educators and policymakers face”(p. 18)—implying, of course, that this was not the case at the time. About a decade later, Cooper and Levin concluded that, while there had been some progress with respect to a stronger connection between research and policy and/or practice,“the empirical evidence needed [to build researchers’credibility to practitioners] simply does not exist or is not in a format that practitioners can find or apply”(2013, p. 2). At the same time, and, perhaps, for much longer, educators were also criticized for their reluctance to allow research to influence their practice. Often referenced in the literature as a research-practice gap, Cooper and Levin noted that, in the education milieu,“research is rarely the determining factor either of policy or of professional practice”(2013, p. 4). There are many reasons for this gap. Many educators do not have ready access to the primary re- search that might help them improve their work: “Teachers can do more or less of that they already do, but they cannot start doing something they do not know”(David & Cuban, 2010, p. 183). The time to read and translate research into meaningful information that they can use as well as the availability of resources required to implement whatever the research advocates is often insufficient or non-existent (David & Cuban, 2010). Additionally, policy makers and researchers have expected educators to implement wave after wave of educational reform initiatives claiming to be research-based, but have larg

FAQs

Why do school administrators find academic research difficult to use?

They must sift through a massive volume of primary research to find specific, locally relevant pieces that fit their practice and decision needs. Time and accessibility often limit this work.

What strategy was developed to improve research usefulness for leaders?

A filtering and distribution strategy was implemented to select research connected to local problems of practice and deliver it to preKindergarten–Grade 12 administrators in a Canadian district.

What barriers reduced participants’ ability to translate research into practice?

Participants highlighted barriers such as time constraints, access limitations, syntax/technical language, and difficulties judging relevance to local issues.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Danger Angel