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Seeing Who Learners Can Become: A Blueprint for Education R&D That Starts with Students
The CAPS Network is a national nonprofit that partners with schools, educators, employers, and communities to help students discover who they are and where they belong through profession-based learning. Across more than 140 affiliate communities, students engage in authentic projects alongside industry professionals while educators continuously learn from one another…

How a Little-Known Procurement Tool Could Modernize IES
SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril — these companies are defining a new era of defense contracting. These so-called “neoprimes” disrupted a calcified defense industry by bringing software expertise, speed, and a startup ethos to a field long dominated by slow-moving giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. But their rise wasn’t just a…

How State and Federal R&D Investments Are Expanding Michigan’s Educator Workforce
The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is tasked with overseeing the state’s public school system. It manages academic standards, educator certification, and statewide learning initiatives. In recent years, the MDE has spearheaded a statewide push to strengthen its educator pipeline to address critical educator shortages and expand preschool access.

How Federal R&D Investments Are Strengthening CTE Programs and Improving Student Outcomes in Nebraska
Success Stories: State R&D Investment at Work How Federal R&D Investments Are Strengthening CTE Programs and Improving Student Outcomes in Nebraska See how strategic federal investments turn research into results. Through stories like Nebraska’s career-technical education (CTE) pathways evaluation—where R&D funding made it possible to identify and increase investment in…

Building a Bolder IES: An Interview with Former IES Fellows, Katherine McEldoon and Alex Resch
Before leading the Alliance for Learning Innovation, I led the education, workforce, and talent policy portfolio at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and had the privilege of supporting FAS’s Education R&D Fellows — exceptionally talented individuals eager to apply their technical expertise to public service. That’s how I met…

How Utah Is Using State Investments To Build A Statewide Research-Practice Infrastructure
Success Stories: State R&D Investment at Work How Utah Is Using State Investments To Build A Statewide Research-Practice Infrastructure See how strategic state investments turn research into results. Through stories like Utah’s ULEAD Education initiative—where state ed R&D funding is driving a promising knowledge mobilization strategy—we show how ed R&D…






















