"At its heart, this book serves as both an invitation and a guide for educators who are looking for a way to elevate their practice by deepening their understanding of what research is (and isn’t) and how to use it to make schools better places for students (and themselves!). Research often seems out of reach for teachers who barely have time to finish their piles of grading, and so it becomes information distilled and provided to teachers, never to be questioned. Rachel and Kate reframe this approach, inviting everyone into the conversation and packing the chapters with practical strategies for how to “hack” the system in ways that value the expertise of educators, situate the work in appropriate research, and center students’ needs. They write in a way that uplifts teacher knowledge and experience and encourages using it as a conduit for conversations between research and practice. They prioritize fidelity to students, and work within a framework of what they call “hopeful realism.” Kate and Rachael put so much of themselves into this easy-to-read book, often using real-world metaphors as a mechanism for building new knowledge and insights around research and how it can help educators regain a sense of agency that seems to have been incrementally diminishing over the last 25 years. Reading this book feels like having a conversation with really smart and funny friends who are there to listen, understand, and help you find a path forward when you’re feeling a little lost in the chaos of an overwhelming education system."

Amy Broemmel, Associate Dean for Teacher Education at University of Rhode Island

"Few debates in education have grown as heated, or as hollow, as the ones we wage over research-based practice. Educators are urged to follow the evidence without ever being taught how to read it, question it, or disagree about it well, and so a profession full of thoughtful people keeps mistaking certainty for rigor. In Healing and Hacking the Research-Practice Divide, Kate Roberts and Rachel Gabriel do justice to both halves of their title. They tend to the real wounds this divide has left in our field, and they hand educators the protocols and tools to study what genuinely works in their own settings and to broker honest conversations with the colleagues who see things differently. The result is generous and clear-eyed, rich with practical guidance and grounded in deep respect for the people who will use it. I suspect this book will change how a great many of us think about evidence, and, perhaps more importantly, how we talk to one another about it. "

Angela Stockman, Educator and Author

"While there has been plenty of ink spilled lamenting the theory/practice divide in education, few books offer such a powerful repertoire of resources, tools, and frameworks as Healing and Hacking the Research-Practice Divide in Education. As a teacher-researcher straddling that gap myself, I know firsthand how challenging that bridge-building work can be, and am confident that Gabriel and Roberts's book will be an asset for scholars and educators alike. Considering the rising tide of top-down policies, products, and programs being forced on teachers in the name of "the research," this guide couldn't be more timely."

Trevor Aleo, English Teacher & Researcher at Greenwich Country Day School

"For educators whose heads are spinning from the various, sometimes-competing messages they receive across their days in classrooms, schools, professional development sessions, and research reports, this is the book for you. Part how-to guide and part therapist, reading this book is like sitting down with a wise and trusted colleague when you’re feeling mired in uncertainty or just need to talk through your ideas with someone else. While you will not come away with all the answers, you will see your uncertainty in a new light: as something to be shared and cultivated as part of what it means to be an educator and a person—to teach, learn, and reflect on common values in the company of others."

Katherine Frankel, Associate Professor at Boston University

"Healing and Hacking the Research-Practice Divide is insightful, thorough, and an ease to read. I hope many schools will embrace the protocols presented here by Gabriel & Roberts. Teachers are already dedicated to methods and practices that move young people towards facility and problem-solving in all content areas. This book is a starting place for new research into those practices with a critical eye. For a teaching staff that wants to learn together and is open to questioning and clarifying what they think they know, this book will be read with wonder. Here is a way to discover answers together. This book is brilliant. "

Penny Kittle, Author of Book Love, Micro Mentor Texts, and 180 Days