An Application of the Social-ecological Systems Framework to Promoting Evidence-informed Policy and Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Education policy continues to press for increased use of research evidence in decision-making, yet decades of research point to weak links between research and practice. We see evidence-informed improvement not as a problem with schools, but with a larger evidence-use ecosystem. As a step toward building and strengthening multidirectional paths between research, practice, and policy, we explore three overlapping research contexts: production, practice, and mediation. Despite the importance of each of these contexts in evidence-infor5med policy and practice, they are rarely considered together. In this paper, we seek to understand the social-ecological systems in which these contexts are situated and to identify problematic disconnects and promising similarities. This study draws on case studies of research production in institutions of higher education, knowledge mobilization by an intermediary organization, and school-based decision-making. We use Elinor Ostrom’s Social-ecological Systems Framework as a lens on each case, attending to resource systems, resource units, governance systems, actors, and the interactions that coordinate and align those systems to achieve positive outcomes. We then look across cases to identify barriers and opportunities to restructure and reorganize the evidence-use ecosystem in order to redesign and strengthen research-practice infrastructure and more effectively promote evidence-informed policy and practice.