Introduction to Part: Research Use at the School and District Level

This chapter presents an overview of the chapters in Part I focused on research use at the local level. These chapters each emphasize interactive processes associated with research use in local educational systems. They underscore the fact that multiple actors at different levels of systems and from outside the system are implicated in research use. The chapters offer different perspectives on research use and focus on different kinds of actors. Taken together, they draw attention to the need for future studies that attend to the challenges of learning to use research to change leadership practice, the social structure that shapes flows of research within local systems, and the political dimensions of research use.