Translating Research into Practice
More must be done to bridge the gap between research and practice. Research needs to be accessible to practitioners, must be responsive to practitioners needs, and must accurately reflect practice. Research should support the feedback loop between data and decision-making. One key lever in this process is the democratization of data — making data more available. We need to better understand how to collect and share program participation data effectively across agencies and partners. This includes best practices around data-sharing agreements, data-sharing software, and other tools. A national database of research and evaluation tools that are used throughout community school initiatives would help in sharing best practices. Finally, in addition to linking research and practice, we also need to link research to policy and funding, including how funders craft Request for Proposals (RFPs) and grant programs.