Enhancing the Preparation of Researchers for Transformative Research in Education

This report offers recommendations for enhancing the preparation of education researchers—in graduate education and throughout their careers—to engage in transformative programs of research. Transformative programs of research hold at their center the goal of transforming education systems toward high-quality learning and teaching. They are conducted in generative collaboration with educators, policymakers, practitioners, families, and community; draw on insights from multiple disciplines, theories, and methodologies; and seek significant movement toward sustainable change in policy, practice, or pedagogy. Preparation of researchers for transformative research means becoming ready to contribute to that collaborative effort and to bring one’s own developing expertise in support of mutual learning. Our goal is to support those responsible for teaching, learning, enacting, or resourcing the preparation of scholars: to take stock of their progress in supporting preparation for transformative research, to imagine and design the next steps, and to envision possible futures.