Healing and Hacking the Research-Practice Divide
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Description
Research should serve teachers—not the other way around.
Many teachers have experienced "the research" as something done to them rather than for them—findings handed down without context, mandates without mechanisms, tools that consume instructional time without improving it. Healing and Hacking the Research–Practice Divide argues that this situation isn't inevitable. Research can be powerful, humanizing, and liberatory—but only when it travels with humility, and only when teacher knowledge is recognized as evidence, too.
Rachael Gabriel and Kate Roberts offer practical tools, actionable frameworks, and honest analysis of how research moves through schools—and where it breaks down. Learn to evaluate studies, recognize their limits, and build inquiry practices that genuinely center your students, your context, and your professional knowledge.
This important guide offers tools teachers need to demystify research data and translate debate into informed practice. Inside you'll find:
- A definition of what "good" research is, what it provides, and its realistic limits
- Practical frameworks for evaluating research and integrating it into your teaching
- Tools for understanding why the research–practice divide exists—and who benefits from keeping it in place
- Actionable resources for collective classroom inquiry
The divide between research and practice isn't just a knowledge gap. It's a structural problem. This book gives you the language, the frameworks, and the confidence to name that gap, navigate it, and begin to heal it.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
About the Authors
CHAPTER 1: “What the research says . . .”: What Is Research Good for, and What Are Its Limits?
- What is research anyway?
- But what does this have to do with me?
- How this book might serve you
CHAPTER 2: “Does anyone know the answer?”: The Wisdom Needed to Build Knowledge
- Distinguishing between knowledge, information, and wisdom
- How to use research with integrity
- Wise research in practice
CHAPTER 3: “What can we do?”: Hacking the Research–Teaching Relationship
- More than a new meeting protocol, less than a revolution
- Hacking our way to a new reality
- Access, adaptability, and art: Hacker ethics and education
- Hacking a system can bring humanity to an inhumane environment
CHAPTER 4: “Is anyone listening?”: Hacking Two-Way Communication Between Research and Practice
- See the system: A one-way flow of information from research to practice
- Reframe: Being in conversation with something (or someone) that isn’t there
- Create and innovate: Find your voice in the conversation
- Share: Create and find the community you can
- Summary: Be in conversation
CHAPTER 5: “Yeah, but what are they saying?”: Hacking Language Barriers Between Research and Practice
- See the system: Star-crossed collaborators
- Reframe: Traveling to another country
- Create: Learn the language of the other
- Share: Learning a language is intimacy
CHAPTER 6: “Where does our work fit?”: Zoom In and Out to Gain Focus and Widen Perspective
- See the system: The crash of ideals into Friday eighth period
- Reframe: Get flexible
- Create: Zoom wildly toward your inquiry goals
- Share: Spread the word
CHAPTER 7: “What if everyone is arguing?”: Navigating the Intersection of Authentic Debate, Weaponized Research, and Our Own Experience
- See the system: The bellicose and the acquiescent
- Reframe: Couples counseling for all of us
- Create: Build generative disagreement
- Share: The ephemeral state of knowing
Conclusion: We Can Get Close—er
Conclusion: We Can Get Close—er
References
References
Index
Index
Description
Research should serve teachers—not the other way around.
Many teachers have experienced "the research" as something done to them rather than for them—findings handed down without context, mandates without mechanisms, tools that consume instructional time without improving it. Healing and Hacking the Research–Practice Divide argues that this situation isn't inevitable. Research can be powerful, humanizing, and liberatory—but only when it travels with humility, and only when teacher knowledge is recognized as evidence, too.
Rachael Gabriel and Kate Roberts offer practical tools, actionable frameworks, and honest analysis of how research moves through schools—and where it breaks down. Learn to evaluate studies, recognize their limits, and build inquiry practices that genuinely center your students, your context, and your professional knowledge.
This important guide offers tools teachers need to demystify research data and translate debate into informed practice. Inside you'll find:
- A definition of what "good" research is, what it provides, and its realistic limits
- Practical frameworks for evaluating research and integrating it into your teaching
- Tools for understanding why the research–practice divide exists—and who benefits from keeping it in place
- Actionable resources for collective classroom inquiry
The divide between research and practice isn't just a knowledge gap. It's a structural problem. This book gives you the language, the frameworks, and the confidence to name that gap, navigate it, and begin to heal it.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
About the Authors
CHAPTER 1: “What the research says . . .”: What Is Research Good for, and What Are Its Limits?
- What is research anyway?
- But what does this have to do with me?
- How this book might serve you
CHAPTER 2: “Does anyone know the answer?”: The Wisdom Needed to Build Knowledge
- Distinguishing between knowledge, information, and wisdom
- How to use research with integrity
- Wise research in practice
CHAPTER 3: “What can we do?”: Hacking the Research–Teaching Relationship
- More than a new meeting protocol, less than a revolution
- Hacking our way to a new reality
- Access, adaptability, and art: Hacker ethics and education
- Hacking a system can bring humanity to an inhumane environment
CHAPTER 4: “Is anyone listening?”: Hacking Two-Way Communication Between Research and Practice
- See the system: A one-way flow of information from research to practice
- Reframe: Being in conversation with something (or someone) that isn’t there
- Create and innovate: Find your voice in the conversation
- Share: Create and find the community you can
- Summary: Be in conversation
CHAPTER 5: “Yeah, but what are they saying?”: Hacking Language Barriers Between Research and Practice
- See the system: Star-crossed collaborators
- Reframe: Traveling to another country
- Create: Learn the language of the other
- Share: Learning a language is intimacy
CHAPTER 6: “Where does our work fit?”: Zoom In and Out to Gain Focus and Widen Perspective
- See the system: The crash of ideals into Friday eighth period
- Reframe: Get flexible
- Create: Zoom wildly toward your inquiry goals
- Share: Spread the word
CHAPTER 7: “What if everyone is arguing?”: Navigating the Intersection of Authentic Debate, Weaponized Research, and Our Own Experience
- See the system: The bellicose and the acquiescent
- Reframe: Couples counseling for all of us
- Create: Build generative disagreement
- Share: The ephemeral state of knowing
Conclusion: We Can Get Close—er
Conclusion: We Can Get Close—er
References
References
Index
Index
Healing and Hacking the Research-Practice Divide
A Teacher's Guide to Educational Research
September 2026 | 152 pages | Corwin
| Format | Published Date | ISBN | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paperback | 02/04/2026 | 9798348831578 | $37.95 |
| Lifetime | 05/04/2026 | 9798348866570 | $34.00 |
Research should serve teachers—not the other way around.
Many teachers have experienced "the research" as something done to them rather than for them—findings handed down without context, mandates without mechanisms, tools that consume instructional time without improving it. Healing and Hacking the Research–Practice Divide argues that this situation isn't inevitable. Research can be powerful, humanizing, and liberatory—but only when it travels with humility, and only when teacher knowledge is recognized as evidence, too.
Rachael Gabriel and Kate Roberts offer practical tools, actionable frameworks, and honest analysis of how research moves through schools—and where it breaks down. Learn to evaluate studies, recognize their limits, and build inquiry practices that genuinely center your students, your context, and your professional knowledge.
This important guide offers tools teachers need to demystify research data and translate debate into informed practice. Inside you'll find:
- A definition of what "good" research is, what it provides, and its realistic limits
- Practical frameworks for evaluating research and integrating it into your teaching
- Tools for understanding why the research–practice divide exists—and who benefits from keeping it in place
- Actionable resources for collective classroom inquiry
The divide between research and practice isn't just a knowledge gap. It's a structural problem. This book gives you the language, the frameworks, and the confidence to name that gap, navigate it, and begin to heal it.
Table Of Contents:
- Acknowledgments
- About the Authors
- CHAPTER 1: “What the research says . . .”: What Is Research Good for, and What Are Its Limits?
- What is research anyway?
- But what does this have to do with me?
- How this book might serve you
- CHAPTER 2: “Does anyone know the answer?”: The Wisdom Needed to Build Knowledge
- Distinguishing between knowledge, information, and wisdom
- How to use research with integrity
- Wise research in practice
- CHAPTER 3: “What can we do?”: Hacking the Research–Teaching Relationship
- More than a new meeting protocol, less than a revolution
- Hacking our way to a new reality
- Access, adaptability, and art: Hacker ethics and education
- Hacking a system can bring humanity to an inhumane environment
- CHAPTER 4: “Is anyone listening?”: Hacking Two-Way Communication Between Research and Practice
- See the system: A one-way flow of information from research to practice
- Reframe: Being in conversation with something (or someone) that isn’t there
- Create and innovate: Find your voice in the conversation
- Share: Create and find the community you can
- Summary: Be in conversation
- CHAPTER 5: “Yeah, but what are they saying?”: Hacking Language Barriers Between Research and Practice
- See the system: Star-crossed collaborators
- Reframe: Traveling to another country
- Create: Learn the language of the other
- Share: Learning a language is intimacy
- CHAPTER 6: “Where does our work fit?”: Zoom In and Out to Gain Focus and Widen Perspective
- See the system: The crash of ideals into Friday eighth period
- Reframe: Get flexible
- Create: Zoom wildly toward your inquiry goals
- Share: Spread the word
- CHAPTER 7: “What if everyone is arguing?”: Navigating the Intersection of Authentic Debate, Weaponized Research, and Our Own Experience
- See the system: The bellicose and the acquiescent
- Reframe: Couples counseling for all of us
- Create: Build generative disagreement
- Share: The ephemeral state of knowing
- Conclusion: We Can Get Close—er
- References
- Index