Research for Action

MISSION

Through research and action, Research for Action (RFA) seeks to improve the education opportunities and outcomes of urban youth by strengthening public schools and enriching the civic and community dialogue about public education. We share our research with educators, parent and community leaders, students, and policymakers with the goals of building a shared critique of educational inequality and strategizing about school reform that is socially just.
 

WHAT WE DO

Research for Action conducts high quality research and evaluation with schools, districts, and communities. Our reputation for sensitive and thorough data collection, insightful interpretation, and analytic rigor is strong, both locally and nationally.

With two decades of experience, and with the combined expertise of a research team with diverse backgrounds and disciplines, RFA has built a base of knowledge and understanding that covers some of the most critical areas of education research. Although we conduct research across a wide range of education subjects, RFA currently considers the following to be our primary areas of inquiry:

• Youth Development
• Building Literacies in and out of Schools
• Strategies for Improving Schools (including high school reform, school "choice policies," and more)
• College Access and Success
• Teacher Quality, Effectiveness, and Capacity
• District, State, and Federal Policy Research

RFA's expertise in these areas has been built on a range of activities that have resulted in deep understanding from multiple perspectives. As researchers committed to action, we work hard to ensure that our projects inform the field, and we engage deeply in the field to ensure that practical knowledge informs our research. Below are some of the most common activities that we engage in to support our clients and our community:

• Providing research-based recommendations on educational reform
• Scanning and interpreting research for multiple audiences
• Building research capacity
• Strategic advice on research, evaluation, and effective grantmaking
• Research: Evaluation studies
• Research: Longer-term research or policy studies

For more information and access to all of our published research, visit www.researchforaction.org.