What is the Improvement Scholars Network? 

The Improvement Scholars Network (ISN) is a diverse community advancing improvement research as an academic field, a domain of professional practice, and a focus of public policy.  

Our community includes educational researchers, practitioners, technical assistance providers, evaluators, and more. The tie that binds members of the ISN is the shared commitment to empowering local educational professionals, families, and communities to heed calls for transformative change that expands educational access, quality, and equity for students. 

What is “improvement research”? 

“Improvement research” is an umbrella term that we use to describe approaches to local innovation that share four key characteristics: 

• • A focus on local educational opportunities, needs, and problems viewed as meaningful and consequential by local educational professionals, families, and communities. 

• • The use of formal approaches to iterative analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation to understand and address local opportunities, needs, and problems. 

• • Inclusive organizational arrangements that bring diverse perspectives and capabilities to the work of local innovation. 

• • Cultural norms that encourage appreciation of local strengths and assets, critical analysis of the status quo, and equity in the work and outcomes of local innovation.  

The products of improvement research are new knowledge, practices, and tools useful for advancing the development and well-being of students.  

Improvement research supports the incubation and use of locally developed innovations, the integration and use of externally developed innovations, and the analysis and use of external evaluation results as resources for improving students’ educational opportunities, experiences, and outcomes. 

What is the mission of the Improvement Scholars Network? 

The mission of the ISN is to weave improvement research into the fabric of public education in the United States and around the world, such that improvement research is: 

• Institutionalized in higher education as a legitimate, valued approach to producing theoretical and practical knowledge. 
• Integrated into routines and relationships in-and-among local classrooms, communities, schools, and systems. 
• Incorporated into policy discourse and activity aimed at advancing educational access, quality, and equity, especially for historically marginalized children and youth.