A cross-sector group of researchers, evaluators, and evidence leaders working to strengthen how education evidence is generated, interpreted, and used in an increasingly decentralized ecosystem.
Our Impact Priorities
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Define clearer standards so claims can be interpreted across settings, student groups, and implementation conditions.
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Improve how claims are documented, bounded, and reviewed over time using practical tools like Evidence Receipts.
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Make evidence guidance easier to refresh as products, measures, and contexts evolve quickly.
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Support funders and field leaders making real decisions under budget, timing, and implementation constraints.
Who we are
The Network brings together expertise that is often siloed, including methodologists, evaluators, policy researchers, R&D leaders, and evidence intermediaries, because that is how evidence work is structured in practice. Many evidence failures occur at the boundaries, when findings are translated into claims, and claims into action.
Building a Stronger Education Evidence System
The Future of Evidence in Education Network is a cross-sector group of researchers, evaluators, and evidence leaders working to strengthen how education evidence is generated, interpreted, and used.
We focus on the public infrastructure, frameworks, and tools needed to make education evidence more credible, interpretable, and useful.
What we're producing: Spring 2026
Two public-facing reports for education research leaders, funders, and decision-makers working in a faster-moving and more distributed evidence landscape.
Report 1: Diagnosing vulnerabilities and ecosystem recommendations
A diagnosis of where evidence-claim mismatches arise and why they have become more consequential in a decentralized system.
Report 2: Tools for responsible interpretation and decision use
The Evidence Receipt template and guidance for documenting what a claim is based on.
Why now
Education research has always been produced through multiple channels. With tighter federal funding, fewer large multi-site trials will be fielded, and more evidence will be generated and used through decentralized actors on faster cycles.
AI and education technology intensify this dynamic: products change quickly, platforms produce abundant metrics that are easy to over-interpret, and performance claims are treated as proxies for educational impact. Decision-makers want guidance for specific settings and student groups, while many rigorous studies estimate average effects for defined populations under defined conditions.
Writings from our Network Members
Assesing the education landscape
What is the future for education research leaders.
Diagnosing vulnerabilities
Where evidence-claim mismatches arise.
Comparability and updating
Improving interpretation across contexts.
Accountability for claims
A framework for documenting claims.
Emerging evidence systems
How decentralized systems change use.
New research directions
Upcoming work and priorities.
The Network welcomes opportunities to brief funders and field leaders on the report framework and implications, participate in convenings shaping evidence norms and infrastructure, and partner on pilots that apply these standards in real procurement, implementation, and evaluation contexts.