Political Pressures on Educational and Social Research draws upon a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to consider the problems that can arise when research findings diverge from political directions for policy. Chapters explore the impacts this can have on the researchers, as well as the influence it has on the research, including the methodology and the publication of results. The book offers innovative ways of seeing how these connect, overlap and interact, revealing particular issues of concern for researchers and evaluators in the context of research internationally. Key topics include the power and positioning of research, evidence based policy development, ethics and the importance of research that seeks to explore and discover knowledge. The book is divided into two sections. The first presents chapters from international academics, which provide a theoretical underpinning and discussion of power, policy, ethics and their influence on research resourcing, autonomy, purpose and methodology. The second section explores specific case studies and instances from the authors’ own experiences in the field. This book offers an interesting and enlightening insight into the sometimes political nature of research and will appeal to researchers, evaluators and postgraduate students in the fields of education and the social sciences. It will be of particular interest to those studying research methods.

When Research Matters considers the complex and crucially important relationship between education research and policy. In examining how and under what conditions research affects education policy, the book focuses on a number of critical issues: the history of the federal role in education policy; the evolving nature of educational policy research; the role of research in debates about reading, NCLB, and "out-of-field" teaching; how research affects policy by shaping public opinion, judicial rulings, and the decisions of district and school leaders; and the incentives that help explain the behavior of researchers and policymakers. "Renewed interest in the uses of social science evidence for public policy has prompted a vigorous debate about the quality and utility of education research. The essays in this volume contribute important insights into a range of complex and contested issues. Researchers, policymakers, and consumers of education scholarship need to have this book." -- Michael J. Feuer, Executive Director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education in the National Research Council of the National Academies "The current devotion to 'scientifically based research' indicates great faith in the ability of research to influence policy. Yet the policy-research nexus has not been examined in recent years. Ironically, the messy complexities of the research-policy connection don't lend themselves to the research designs currently in most favor. Therefore, this book fills an important void. Under what circumstances and in what ways is research influential today? Can we create better incentives and support for the conduct and use of research that is both rigorous and relevant to policy? These and other questions make for fascinating reading." -- Susan Fuhrman, President, Teachers College, Columbia University "When Research Matters asks the questions that are rarely asked about the difficult road from research to policy. For the classroom educator, the unevenness of the road from research to policy makes the next leg of the journey--from policy to practice--that much more difficult. This volume gives us all a deeper understanding of the reasons research is often poorly translated into practice." -- Pascal D. Forgione Jr., Superintendent of Schools, Austin, Texas Frederick M. Hess is resident scholar and director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also executive editor of Education Next.

What are "essential questions," and how do they differ from other kinds of questions? What's so great about them? Why should you design and use essential questions in your classroom? Essential questions (EQs) help target standards as you organize curriculum content into coherent units that yield focused and thoughtful learning. In the classroom, EQs are used to stimulate students' discussions and promote a deeper understanding of the content. Whether you are an Understanding by Design (UbD) devotee or are searching for ways to address standards—local or Common Core State Standards—in an engaging way, Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins provide practical guidance on how to design, initiate, and embed inquiry-based teaching and learning in your classroom. Offering dozens of examples, the authors explore the usefulness of EQs in all K-12 content areas, including skill-based areas such as math, PE, language instruction, and arts education. As an important element of their backward design approach to designing curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors *Give a comprehensive explanation of why EQs are so important; *Explore seven defining characteristics of EQs; *Distinguish between topical and overarching questions and their uses; *Outline the rationale for using EQs as the focal point in creating units of study; and *Show how to create effective EQs, working from sources including standards, desired understandings, and student misconceptions. Using essential questions can be challenging—for both teachers and students—and this book provides guidance through practical and proven processes, as well as suggested "response strategies" to encourage student engagement. Finally, you will learn how to create a culture of inquiry so that all members of the educational community—students, teachers, and administrators—benefit from the increased rigor and deepened understanding that emerge when essential questions become a guiding force for learners of all ages.

WINNER 2016 Grawemeyer Award in Education Helping students develop their ability to deliberate political questions is an essential component of democratic education, but introducing political issues into the classroom is pedagogically challenging and raises ethical dilemmas for teachers. Diana E. Hess and Paula McAvoy argue that teachers will make better professional judgments about these issues if they aim toward creating "political classrooms," which engage students in deliberations about questions that ask, "How should we live together?" Based on the findings from a large, mixed-method study about discussions of political issues within high school classrooms, The Political Classroom presents in-depth and engaging cases of teacher practice. Paying particular attention to how political polarization and social inequality affect classroom dynamics, Hess and McAvoy promote a coherent plan for providing students with a nonpartisan political education and for improving the quality of classroom deliberations.

This open access book identifies the multiple ways that IEA’s studies of civic and citizenship education have contributed to national and international educational discourse, research, policymaking, and practice. The IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), first conducted in 2009, was followed by a second cycle in 2016. The project was linked to the earlier IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED 1999, 2000). IEA’s ICCS remains the only large-scale international study dedicated to formal and informal civic and citizenship education in school. It continues to make substantial contributions to understanding the nature of the acquired civic knowledge, attitudes, and participatory skills. It also discusses in-depth how a wide range of countries prepare their young people for citizenship in changing political, social, and economic circumstances. The next cycle of ICCS is planned for 2022. In this book, more than 20 national representatives and international scholars from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America assess how the processes and findings of the 2009 and 2016 cycles of ICCS and CIVED 1999/2000 have been used to improve nations’ understanding of their students’ civic knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, current civic-related behaviors, and intentions for future participation in a comparative context. There are also chapters summarizing the secondary analysis of those studies’ results indicating their usefulness for educational improvement and reflecting on policy issues. The analyses and reflections in this book provide timely insight into international educational discourse, policy, practice, and research in an area of education that is becoming increasingly important for many societies.