Opinion
School & District Management Opinion

Public Scholarship Is About More Than Edu-Celebrity

By Janelle Scott — January 15, 2019 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Critics complain that education research is jargon-heavy and inaccessible, slow to produce, and inconclusive. To be clear, education researchers do not produce research expecting that it will be ignored or languish behind journal pay walls. They want their scholarship to matter for policy and practice. And for it to matter, the research must reach the public.

The best advice I have received on public scholarship was from Vivian Tseng, a senior vice president at the William T. Grant Foundation. And it was this: There are multiple publics. These include other researchers, students, parents, community members, teachers, principals, district leaders, policymakers, foundations, think tanks, journalists, bloggers, social-media influencers, and advocacy groups.

About This Section

BRIC ARCHIVE

Education Week Commentary teamed up with Frederick M. Hess to ask four accomplished scholars a simple question: What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten on how to be a public scholar?

Read the full package, along with original analysis of this year’s new Edu-Scholar data by the Education Week Research Center.

Experienced researchers understand the importance of power, relationship building, and the desire from policymakers and advocates for multiple forms of reliable evidence. Many researchers are adept at translating nuanced theory and empirical study in ways that speak to the interests of a variety of audiences. We write books and journal articles, use social media, appear on podcasts and videos, and publish in open-access journals. Those of us who work this way do so to communicate our findings and debate their relevance, significance, and applicability. But this path is not for all scholars.

Others are reticent about expanding the outlets in which they share their scholarship, or they have limited capacity to do so. Female professors and professors of color—and female faculty of color, in particular—are unfairly expected to provide heavy service to their departments, universities, and professional associations even as they teach, conduct research, and mentor students. It can be challenging to add “publicly engaged scholarship” to this work. While norms are shifting to be more inclusive of public scholarship, tenure and promotion systems still consider academic publishing to be the gold standard. In addition, universities have been inconsistent in upholding academic freedom when scholarship is controversial and raises public ire.

Public engagement can also place researchers at a profound risk."

Public engagement can also place researchers at a profound risk. Researchers interested in redressing education inequality necessarily do work that is provocative, that challenges systems of power or long-held theories or beliefs, or contradicts existing empirical scholarship. Such work can make scholars targets for abuse. Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian-American, LGBTQ, and female scholars have been targeted with racist and sexist harassment, and/or threats to their jobs as a result of their public engagement.

Researchers also worry that their findings will be distorted or misused and often need time to develop a public voice and to establish credibility in their fields. Scholars not yet ready for the visibility need not shy away from engaging locally or informally.

Outward, public-facing engagement is important, and researchers should take the time and avail themselves of resources to develop their public voices. Yet if researchers primarily look in formal public policy spaces or on social media platforms for ways to engage, they miss important local and informal possibilities for publicly engaged scholarship that matters just as much.

If one is not careful and deliberate, the pursuit of edu-celebrity status can lead some researchers to neglect the time and care it takes for critical relationship building, the production of rigorous and relevant scholarship, and the development of multiple ways of communicating findings that are essential for informing policy, research, and practice.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the January 16, 2019 edition of Education Week as Public Scholarship Is About More Than Edu-Celebrity

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
Accelerate Reading Growth in Grades 6 and Beyond
Looking for a proven solution for struggling readers in grades 6 and up? Join our webinar to learn about a powerful intervention that transforms struggling readers into engaged learners.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Support Your Newest Teachers with Personalized PD & Coaching
Discover steps you can take to strengthen new teacher support and build long-term capacity in your district.
Content provided by BetterLesson
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
Smartphones and Social Media: Building Policies for Safe Technology Use in Schools
Smartphones and social media are ever present with today’s students. Join this conversation on navigating the challenges and tailoring policy.
Content provided by Panorama Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management As It Closes Schools, This District Wants to Avoid the Mistakes of the Past
The district wants to move slowly and not make closure decisions based on enrollment alone.
7 min read
The School District of Philadelphia headquarters are shown in Philadelphia on July 23, 2024.
The School District of Philadelphia headquarters are shown in Philadelphia on July 23, 2024. The district is embarking on a yearlong process to assess which of its smaller schools may need to close.
Matt Rourke/AP
School & District Management How Schools Can Navigate Trump's Immigration Policies
As legal protections remain for immigrant students, experts share what educators can do in the wake of federal immigration policy changes.
6 min read
A student arrives for school Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston.
A student arrives for school on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Boston. Schools are navigating new challenges after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ended its policy discouraging immigration enforcement at sensitive locations—such as schools.
Michael Dwyer/AP
School & District Management What Principals Can Do So Teachers Don't Dread Observations
Principals can make walkthroughs more palatable. Here's how.
6 min read
Principal and teacher walking through a school hallway.
E+/Getty
School & District Management Opinion This Time of Year, Principals Have Two Jobs. Here’s How to Ace Them Both
Here are 4 tips on how to finish this school year strong—while preparing for the next.
3 min read
It's the time of year to develop current teachers and look ahead to future hires.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva