Evidence-Based Decision Making in School District Central Offices Toward a Policy and Research Agenda

District central office administrators increasingly face policy demands to use in their decision making. These demands up the ante oil education policy researchers and policy makers to better understand what evidence use in district central offices entails and the conditions that MY Support it. To that end, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of research literature on evidence use in district central offices, finding that the process of evidence use is complex, spanning Multiple subactivities and requiring administrators to make sense of evidence and its implications for central oft-ice operations. These activities have significant political dimensions and involve the use of local knowledge as a key evidence Source. Evidence use is shaped by features of the evidence itself and various organizational and institutional factors. Policy shapes evidence use, but other factors mediate its impact. The authors conclude with implications for future policy and research oil central office evidence-based decision making,