Tell US Legislators: Invest In Research That Fosters Classroom Innovation

Survey results from Voices from the Classroom 2024 illuminate a teaching profession in crisis. With only 16% of teachers saying they would recommend the profession to others, it is clear that educators are calling for transformational change that makes teaching more dynamic, collaborative, rewarding, and sustainable.

To help drive the reimagination of the profession, we need research on what works and what doesn’t, and we need the infrastructure to ensure that research reaches and impacts the classroom. Federal legislators can help bridge the research-to-classroom gap and thus support the reimagination of the profession by:

(1) Investing federal funds in research programs like the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program. In particular, inclusive research programs—meaning they engage educators and wider school communities from the beginning of a research project—can help ensure evidence-based practices reach the classroom.

(2) Supporting legislation that makes education research more actionable, such as the reauthorization of the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) through S.3392: Advancing Research in Education Act (AERA). Among other things, this legislation revises the What Works Clearinghouse to make it more usable for teachers, requires the Institute of Education Sciences to create a system for more widely disseminating findings in accessible formats, and requires IES to better engage teachers in research programs.

Sign our petition today to urge federal legislators to invest in education research programs and support legislation that makes that research more attainable!