Emerging Research Year in Review
Annually, December invites copious reflection about the previous twelve months in anticipation of what is to come when the calendar turns to the new year. Whether it is a Spotify Wrapped report documenting extensive Taylor Swift listening, year-end “best of” lists comparing the merits of Industry to The Bear, one’s review of their professional accomplishments, or a compilation video of the best Detroit Lions plays, there are plenty of places to initiate this retrospective contemplation. Adding to these possible starting points, over the last few years, the Office of K-12 Outreach has released a December summary of previously shared Emerging Research (December 2020 In Focus newsletter; December 2021 In Focus newsletter; December 2022 In Focus newsletter; December 2023 In Focus newsletter).
This coverage of the last year of research-informed guides, video series, events, white papers, journal articles, conference presentations, virtual courses, and books disseminated via the In Focus newsletter is based on a few goals. For one, it is designed to offer busy readers a chance to revisit the scholarship they might have missed over the last twelve months. Relatedly, it arises from an understanding that new situations develop personally and professionally, and it is possible that previously non-essential content now addresses an evolving need. Second, it reflects a desire to re-celebrate the arduous work of the scholars who made these resources possible in the last calendar year. Finally, it reviews high-quality, practice-informed research that can hopefully inspire other individuals in 2025 and beyond. With those aims in mind, in the last year, the Office of K-12 Outreach used the
- January 2024 Emerging Research to revisit the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Black History Month resource guides, reshare the 2021 review of Black-authored books, and publicize the 2024 Sankofa Project, which delivered community-oriented events discussing the legacy of Rosa Parks and Congressman John Lewis, the contemporary demands on higher education leaders, and the MSU climate after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During Black History Month, the February 2024 In Focus newsletter shared lessons from these sessions, which were facilitated by the Office of K-12 Outreach in partnership with Michigan State University’s Department of Police and Public Safety.
- February 2024 Emerging Research to offer readers resources to help celebrate Women’s History Month in March, including national guides, an overview of local related events from MSU Today, K-12 Outreach’s 2022 Women’s History Month resource guide, and the “Eloquent Educators: In the Spirit of…” series that interviewed women who have flourished in their careers to share how these professionals have influenced education in Michigan and across the United States.
- March 2024 Emerging Research to disseminate the study, “Growing Michigan with Great Schools,” from Dr. David Arsen, Professor Emeritus of Education Policy and K-12 Educational Administration in Michigan State University’s College of Education, and Dr. Michael Addonizio, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Wayne State University. Wanting to connect research to policy, this report reviewed “the Growing Michigan Together Council’s recommendations,” explored “the many ways that well-resourced schools are an essential component of community development,” and “fill[ed] a gap in the Council’s report by examining the state financing needed to attain this promising vision” (MSU College of Education). After its publication, Drs. Arsen and Addonizio’s work was also featured by WDET, WKAR, and MSU Today.
- April 2024 Emerging Research to highlight a presentation at the annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting on “The State of the Educator Workforce in Michigan” report by Dr. Chris Torres, Dr. Nathan Burroughs, Dr. Rebecca Frausel, Dr. Dirk Zuschlag, Calandra Reichel, and the Office of K-12 Outreach’s Dr. Jacqueline Gardner. Before their AERA symposium, this team’s work was also featured in the October 2023 Emerging Research and articles by the MSU College of Education, WILX 10, The University of Michigan News, WWMT, The Detroit News, and The New York Times.
- May 2024 Emerging Research to explain the role of academic research in the creation, design, and implementation of K-12 Outreach’s Educational Coaching Foundations Course. Beyond spreading research-based insights on best practices in educational coaching, these online, self-paced modules offer enrollees the chance to extend their understanding of the fundamentals of effective coaching, sharpen their active listening skills, learn to utilize prompting questions, and determine the appropriate types of questions to use during coaching.
- June 2024 Emerging Research to feature then-Student Data Assistant Allie Hukill’s analysis of chronic absenteeism among Michigan K-12 students and how educators, administrators, and policymakers might reverse troubling status quo conditions around attendance rates.
- July 2024 Emerging Research to articulate the role of the Office of K-12 Outreach in Western Michigan University’s High Impact Leadership (HIL) Project. Specifically, it discussed research from this project that was focused on understanding the “school renewal” that HIL promotes and announced the recognition of HIL scholars to share their findings at the Fall 2024 University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) conference in Los Angeles.
- August 2024 Emerging Research to celebrate the selection of a team of K-12 Outreach researchers for a 2024-25 Michigan Applied Public Policy Research (MAPPR) grant from the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) to study how Michigan districts used their Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and strategies these entities adopted in anticipation of the September 2024 expiration of ESSER resources.
- September 2024 Emerging Research to flag a new book, Socioeconomic Segregation and Educational Inequality, from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) that explores the concept of socioeconomic segregation, its relationship to student outcomes, and its impacts. Notably, the volume includes contributions from the Office of K-12 Outreach’s Director of Data & Evaluation, Dr. Jacqueline Gardner, in support of the volume’s other authors – Dr. Nathan Burroughs, Principal Researcher at the American Institutes for Research, Dr. Dirk F. Zuschlag, Senior Research Associate with Public Policy Associates, and Craig Joseph Van Vliet, Research Associate with Public Policy Associates.
- October 2024 Emerging Research to ensure readers are aware of the Education Policy Speaker Series (EPSS) hosted by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) and the Urban Education Speaker Series (UESS) from the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships. Each year, these programs offer students, teachers, administrators, researchers, faculty members, MSU-adjacent folks, and education stakeholders the chance to connect with experts and thought leaders conducting cutting-edge education research.
- November 2024 Emerging Research to solicit additional responses to K-12 Outreach’s survey of district administrators and superintendents regarding their use of ESSER funds as part of the office’s research for its MAPPR grant (August 2024 Emerging Research).
In January 2025, Emerging Research will return to its regularly scheduled analysis of newly-released academic work that links the pursuit of research with practice, meets the highest standards of reliability and validity, informs policy, and comes from engaged practitioners who are dedicated to constant improvement and service to society’s most vulnerable members. Until then, readers are invited to reflect on their takeaways from the research shared in 2024, covering topics from school funding to educator workforce shortages to chronic absenteeism to school improvement efforts. With that, they are encouraged to consider how they can contribute directly or indirectly to new scholarship that students, educators, administrators, and policymakers need to improve the K-12 education ecosystem.