are all biases bad report cover

Are All Biases Bad? Collaborative Grounded Theory in Developmental Evaluation of Education Policy

Our Publications

This study argues that varied perspectives should be a critical component in the methodological and analytical choices of education research, especially when the sought after outcome is deeper understanding of the impact, both positive and negative, of an education program or policy. In this study, rather than using one researcher to confirm the reliability of the other, the study explores the outcome of drawing on the positional reflexivity of two researchers, each with a distinct perspective, as a potential strength to cogenerate themes and theory in the evaluation of complex policy or programs.

Policy Brief: More Than One C

More Than One C: Educating Students to Be Ready for Careers and College

Our Publications

This policy brief from EPIC discusses the United State’s bias toward college-going as the gold standard and how to counteract that singular mode of thinking. EPIC outlines why definitions of K–12 success should balance an emphasis on each C (college and career). EPIC also shows the related pitfalls of districts failing to attend to the issues that are most salient for their communities. To avoid those dangers, EPIC recommends democratizing postsecondary pathway access to ensure equity, localizing districts’ definitions of success to suit community needs, and personalizing educational experiences so students can become ready on their own terms.

CIE ESD cover

Essential Skills and Dispositions: Developmental Frameworks for Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, and Self-Direction

Our Publications

This set of developmental frameworks was created to facilitate discussion within communities of practice and to enhance a shared understanding of the dynamic nature of four essential skills—collaboration, communication, creativity, and self-direction in learning. The frameworks define components inherent to each skill and describe performance across a beginner to emerging expert progression, informed by research on the development of expertise. Unlike discipline-specific learning progressions and rubrics, the developmental progressions reflect components essential to the skill itself and describe growth dependent on many years of active exploration, experimentation, setbacks, and reflection.