How States and Districts Support Evidence Use in School Improvement

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) encourages educators to use school improvement strategies backed by rigorous research. According to a new snapshot, states and districts share that goal but may often be relying on research that varies in quality. How States and Districts Support Evidence Use in School Improvement provides a snapshot of how states promote evidence-based strategies in their lowest-performing schools, and how districts operating these schools choose improvement practices. Findings are based on national surveys administered in 2018 as part of a broader effort to study the implementation of ESSA. Key findings include: Most states pointed districts and schools to evidence on improvement strategies but few required schools to choose from an approved strategy list. Most states used approaches that included providing information directly, making referrals to organizations that rate evidence, and setting grant funding criteria to incentivize evidence. Most districts (9 in 10) reported that evidence of effectiveness was a “very important” consideration when choosing improvement strategies. But the evidence districts relied on probably varies in quality. Most districts reported obtaining information on improvement strategies from peers and vendors, while fewer got information from sources designed to rate and share evidence.