No-surprises pre-release briefings with district leadership before research reports are made public¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

CCSR maintains a 'no-surprises' policy: before any report is released, the organization holds formal briefings with the CEO, district leaders, and board of education members, shares penultimate drafts, and invites administrators affected by findings to steering committee meetings. The report argues this is 'not just an administrative nicety'—because media treat new findings as opportunities to call the district to task, briefings give leadership time to process findings and prepare responses, which protects research's capacity to inform policy rather than only provoke reaction.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Regular communication channels with district leadership and affected departments
• Advance distribution of penultimate report drafts

Constraints¶

• The report notes that without this processing opportunity, public reaction management would crowd out the district's ability to use the research, undermining the research role

Target Learners¶

• District CEOs, board of education leaders, and administrators whose departments are the targets of research findings

Target Learning Goals¶

• Enabling district leadership to process, absorb, and act on research findings rather than merely react publicly

Affordances¶

• Ccsr Supporting Search For Solutions Theory Of Action

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Melissa Roderick, John Q. Easton, and Penny Bender Sebring. (2009). A New Model for the Role of Research in Supporting Urban School Reform. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/ccsr-new-model-role-research-supporting-urban-school-reform