Policy Influencers
As a policy influencer, you translate community voice into policy action, creating the political will and public narrative to redesign learning. Free from agency constraints, you build diverse bipartisan coalitions, elevate bright spots, and champion enabling conditions—flexibility, modern data, and dedicated R&D capacity. Through site visits, storytelling, and targeted advocacy strategies, you build momentum for smarter, more holistic measures of success and stronger support for implementation. When you make R&D a strategic priority in advocacy and coordinate efforts across sectors, you help turn local breakthroughs into statewide improvements. The result is durable, learner-centered change: policies that endure, practices that spread, connected communities, and better daily experiences and outcomes for young people.
How Policy Influencers Advance Education R&D
You assemble the bipartisan coalitions and diverse stakeholder groups, from business leaders to educators to researchers, that give R&D legitimacy and create political will.
You push states to articulate bold visions for education transformation and expand accountability measures to include what communities value.
You identify and amplify local innovations that deserve wider attention, showing policymakers and practitioners what’s already working in their own backyards.
Your independence from government allows you to build bipartisan support for R&D infrastructure that can outlast political transitions, creating the stable foundation needed for long-term systems transformation.
Policy Influencer Recommendations and Key Actions
Build: Understanding, Coalitions, Capacity, and Sustainable Infrastructure
Lay the groundwork for state education R&D by building coalitions, developing strategic capacity, and creating bipartisan momentum.
Understand how to leverage your policy and partner landscape.
- Conduct a landscape analysis. Understand key policies, policy and budget cycles, dynamics, allies, legislative leaders and champions, and priorities that will inform advocacy possibilities.
- Map the power lanes. Prioritize committees that focus on appropriations, education (K-12/higher education), and data privacy; identify 2-3 credible champions per caucus and their legislative staff.
- Work the calendar. Strategize around interim hearings, caucus lunches, and district work. Organize legislator site visits outside of the legislative session. Draft bill language before drafting deadlines and budget notes 6-8 weeks before budgets are committed.
- Involve and activate citizen advocates.
Position strategic state education R&D as a bipartisan, cross-sector solution to state challenges.
How:
- Build a messaging toolkit. Develop and utilize tested messages that emphasize how R&D addresses state priorities and shared concerns (e.g. learner engagement and success, workforce readiness, fiscal responsibility, and local empowerment).
- Highlight strong state examples. Point to thriving R&D initiatives in both red and blue states, demonstrating bipartisan viability and appeal.
- Connect R&D to business community priorities around workforce development and economic competitiveness. Build coalitions that include employers and chambers of commerce alongside education advocates.
Help agencies articulate how innovation and R&D advance the vision and serve as the mechanism for evidence-based improvement and transformation.
How:
- Support and participate in state leaders’ vision and research agenda-setting processes. A future-facing education vision and a practical, public R&D agenda will help you be a better advocate. These foundational documents will help communities know the “why,” help practitioners have a clear “how,” and help coalitions resource the work (see State Leaders page for more information).
- Conduct a lightweight scan of existing conditions. Examine funding, staff capacity, data systems, and flexibilities and leverage the recommendations in Seizing the Opportunity for State Education R&D: Findings and Recommendations for Action to identify opportunities for action.
- Facilitate strategy sessions. Bring learners, families, educators, tribal/community organizations, workforce, and higher education to the table; ensure diverse learner voices are centered, not tokenized.
- Curate briefings. Help practitioners share lessons learned, pitfalls, and promising models with researchers and state peers; translate insights into next steps.
- Organize cross-sector champions. Business, higher education, philanthropic, and community leaders can help sustain momentum across political cycles and align resources to the agenda.
- Set up routines. Public updates, community check-ins, and student advisory touchpoints will facilitate learners and communities informing R&D priorities and vice versa.
Establish or participate in existing cross-sector coalitions to champion education R&D as a strategic priority.
How:
- Establish a formal coalition (or participate in an existing one) of policy influencers to advocate for education R&D as a strategic priority. Representation should include K-12, higher education, workforce, business, philanthropy, the legislature, community organizations, and learners and caregivers.
- Develop a collective vision statement for state education R&D. Integrate R&D language into existing coalition mission statements and advocacy priorities. Ask coalition members to publicly endorse and promote the coalition’s work.
- Create working groups. Develop detailed advocacy strategies focused on state-specific R&D infrastructure and conditions.
- Ease adoption for state leaders. Develop salient recommendations and model policies.
Employ strategic communication so R&D messaging reaches the right audiences through the right channels.
How:
- Create advocacy toolkits. Include tested messaging, talking points, visuals, fact sheets, and op-ed templates that local advocates can customize for their state context.
- Anticipate potential risks and challenges. Develop counter-arguments for potential opposition.
- Build capacity to tell compelling stories about why this work matters. Train coalition members and grassroots advocates in effective messaging about innovation, education R&D, and systems transformation.
- Promote the supportive actions and voices of state education R&D champions.
Amplify: Voices, Evidence, and Bright Spots
Bring education R&D to life by spotlighting success stories, designing immersive experiences, and amplifying community voices.
Highlight pockets of innovation and R&D initiatives happening across your state or other states to demonstrate what’s possible and build momentum for systems-level investment.
How:
- Document and amplify impact. Identify and profile districts, schools, or programs demonstrating successful R&D approaches with both qualitative stories and quantitative outcomes.
- Create case studies. Connect local innovations to broader state priorities. Make the relevance clear to policymakers.
- Develop accessible one-pagers. Make education R&D examples digestible for legislators, highlighting return on investment and community impact.
Sponsor site visits and immersive experiences.
How:
- Curate site visit experiences. Bring key legislators identified in your landscape analysis to learning environments and communities engaged in education redesign. Prioritize visits in their district if possible.
- Prepare briefing materials for visiting policymakers. Frame what they’ll observe in the context of state strategic priorities and how R&D infrastructure enabled the work.
- Facilitate conversations. Integrate educator, learner, caregiver, and researcher voices into visits to provide multiple perspectives on how R&D improves practice and outcomes.
- Follow up after site visits. Synthesize takeaways and specific policy recommendations based on what policymakers observed. Create a clear path from inspiration to action.
Amplify family and learner voices in priority-setting.
How:
- Partner with community organizations, PTAs, and student groups. Advocate for statutory requirements that advisory councils focused on innovation or R&D include learner and caregiver representatives with genuine decision-making authority.
- Support surveys or community listening sessions. Encourage systematically gathering input about education priorities, challenges, and aspirations.
- Encourage transparent feedback loops. Ask state education agency leaders to show how community input influenced R&D priorities, grant decisions, and program design.
Advance: Policy Change and Systems Transformation
Push for the policies, funding, and federal partnerships that embed education R&D into state infrastructure.
Advocate for state legislation that creates the infrastructure and conditions required for systemic education R&D (explore the State Leader Playbook for more detailed information).
How:
Advocate for:
- Legislation. Define education R&D and innovation and establish dedicated R&D offices (within SEAs or through university/intermediary partnerships) with clear authority and adequate staffing.
- Sustained, dedicated funding for R&D infrastructure. This includes research staff, innovation programs, technical assistance, and capacity building.
- Formal innovation programs. Create or expand statutory innovation programs, pilot programs, and statewide districts with policy flexibilities and built-in evaluation requirements.
- Statutory innovation networks and advisory councils. Cross-sector representation guides R&D priorities and ensures feedback loops to policy.
- Modernized, secure data. State investment in statewide longitudinal data systems, cross-agency data governance, and secure data sharing enables R&D (see State Leader Play #5 for more information).
- Education R&D technical assistance and capacity building. Quantify your ask. Work with SEA staff to budget funding needs for needed programs and infrastructure.
Help states access and advocate for federal R&D resources.
How:
- Brief state leaders on federal programs supporting education R&D.
- Encourage and assist states to apply for federal flexibility waivers. The Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority and Competitive Grants for State Assessments are two programs that create space for R&D-driven innovation.
- Connect state education agencies with federal technical assistance centers. Though in flux (see State Leader Play #8 for more information), Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) and Comprehensive Centers (CCs) have historically provided capacity-building support for research, evaluation, data systems, and evidence-based practice.
- Get creative. Explore how existing federal funds could be used to fund R&D activities.
- Advocate at the federal level. Advocate for policies and funding that strengthen state R&D infrastructure, participate in public comment opportunities, and engage congressional representatives. Join the Alliance for Learning Innovation.
Build: Understanding, Coalitions, Capacity, and Sustainable Infrastructure
Lay the groundwork for state education R&D by building coalitions, developing strategic capacity, and creating bipartisan momentum.
Understand how to leverage your policy and partner landscape.
- Conduct a landscape analysis. Understand key policies, policy and budget cycles, dynamics, allies, legislative leaders and champions, and priorities that will inform advocacy possibilities.
- Map the power lanes. Prioritize committees that focus on appropriations, education (K-12/higher education), and data privacy; identify 2-3 credible champions per caucus and their legislative staff.
- Work the calendar. Strategize around interim hearings, caucus lunches, and district work. Organize legislator site visits outside of the legislative session. Draft bill language before drafting deadlines and budget notes 6-8 weeks before budgets are committed.
- Involve and activate citizen advocates.
Position strategic state education R&D as a bipartisan, cross-sector solution to state challenges.
How:
- Build a messaging toolkit. Develop and utilize tested messages that emphasize how R&D addresses state priorities and shared concerns (e.g. learner engagement and success, workforce readiness, fiscal responsibility, and local empowerment).
- Highlight strong state examples. Point to thriving R&D initiatives in both red and blue states, demonstrating bipartisan viability and appeal.
- Connect R&D to business community priorities around workforce development and economic competitiveness. Build coalitions that include employers and chambers of commerce alongside education advocates.
Help agencies articulate how innovation and R&D advance the vision and serve as the mechanism for evidence-based improvement and transformation.
How:
- Support and participate in state leaders’ vision and research agenda-setting processes. A future-facing education vision and a practical, public R&D agenda will help you be a better advocate. These foundational documents will help communities know the “why,” help practitioners have a clear “how,” and help coalitions resource the work (see State Leaders page for more information).
- Conduct a lightweight scan of existing conditions. Examine funding, staff capacity, data systems, and flexibilities and leverage the recommendations in Seizing the Opportunity for State Education R&D: Findings and Recommendations for Action to identify opportunities for action.
- Facilitate strategy sessions. Bring learners, families, educators, tribal/community organizations, workforce, and higher education to the table; ensure diverse learner voices are centered, not tokenized.
- Curate briefings. Help practitioners share lessons learned, pitfalls, and promising models with researchers and state peers; translate insights into next steps.
- Organize cross-sector champions. Business, higher education, philanthropic, and community leaders can help sustain momentum across political cycles and align resources to the agenda.
- Set up routines. Public updates, community check-ins, and student advisory touchpoints will facilitate learners and communities informing R&D priorities and vice versa.
Establish or participate in existing cross-sector coalitions to champion education R&D as a strategic priority.
How:
- Establish a formal coalition (or participate in an existing one) of policy influencers to advocate for education R&D as a strategic priority. Representation should include K-12, higher education, workforce, business, philanthropy, the legislature, community organizations, and learners and caregivers.
- Develop a collective vision statement for state education R&D. Integrate R&D language into existing coalition mission statements and advocacy priorities. Ask coalition members to publicly endorse and promote the coalition’s work.
- Create working groups. Develop detailed advocacy strategies focused on state-specific R&D infrastructure and conditions.
- Ease adoption for state leaders. Develop salient recommendations and model policies.
Employ strategic communication so R&D messaging reaches the right audiences through the right channels.
How:
- Create advocacy toolkits. Include tested messaging, talking points, visuals, fact sheets, and op-ed templates that local advocates can customize for their state context.
- Anticipate potential risks and challenges. Develop counter-arguments for potential opposition.
- Build capacity to tell compelling stories about why this work matters. Train coalition members and grassroots advocates in effective messaging about innovation, education R&D, and systems transformation.
- Promote the supportive actions and voices of state education R&D champions.
Amplify: Voices, Evidence, and Bright Spots
Bring education R&D to life by spotlighting success stories, designing immersive experiences, and amplifying community voices.
Highlight pockets of innovation and R&D initiatives happening across your state or other states to demonstrate what’s possible and build momentum for systems-level investment.
How:
- Document and amplify impact. Identify and profile districts, schools, or programs demonstrating successful R&D approaches with both qualitative stories and quantitative outcomes.
- Create case studies. Connect local innovations to broader state priorities. Make the relevance clear to policymakers.
- Develop accessible one-pagers. Make education R&D examples digestible for legislators, highlighting return on investment and community impact.
Sponsor site visits and immersive experiences.
How:
- Curate site visit experiences. Bring key legislators identified in your landscape analysis to learning environments and communities engaged in education redesign. Prioritize visits in their district if possible.
- Prepare briefing materials for visiting policymakers. Frame what they’ll observe in the context of state strategic priorities and how R&D infrastructure enabled the work.
- Facilitate conversations. Integrate educator, learner, caregiver, and researcher voices into visits to provide multiple perspectives on how R&D improves practice and outcomes.
- Follow up after site visits. Synthesize takeaways and specific policy recommendations based on what policymakers observed. Create a clear path from inspiration to action.
Amplify family and learner voices in priority-setting.
How:
- Partner with community organizations, PTAs, and student groups. Advocate for statutory requirements that advisory councils focused on innovation or R&D include learner and caregiver representatives with genuine decision-making authority.
- Support surveys or community listening sessions. Encourage systematically gathering input about education priorities, challenges, and aspirations.
- Encourage transparent feedback loops. Ask state education agency leaders to show how community input influenced R&D priorities, grant decisions, and program design.
Advance: Policy Change and Systems Transformation
Push for the policies, funding, and federal partnerships that embed education R&D into state infrastructure.
Advocate for state legislation that creates the infrastructure and conditions required for systemic education R&D (explore the State Leader Playbook for more detailed information).
How:
Advocate for:
- Legislation. Define education R&D and innovation and establish dedicated R&D offices (within SEAs or through university/intermediary partnerships) with clear authority and adequate staffing.
- Sustained, dedicated funding for R&D infrastructure. This includes research staff, innovation programs, technical assistance, and capacity building.
- Formal innovation programs. Create or expand statutory innovation programs, pilot programs, and statewide districts with policy flexibilities and built-in evaluation requirements.
- Statutory innovation networks and advisory councils. Cross-sector representation guides R&D priorities and ensures feedback loops to policy.
- Modernized, secure data. State investment in statewide longitudinal data systems, cross-agency data governance, and secure data sharing enables R&D (see State Leader Play #5 for more information).
- Education R&D technical assistance and capacity building. Quantify your ask. Work with SEA staff to budget funding needs for needed programs and infrastructure.
Help states access and advocate for federal R&D resources.
How:
- Brief state leaders on federal programs supporting education R&D.
- Encourage and assist states to apply for federal flexibility waivers. The Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority and Competitive Grants for State Assessments are two programs that create space for R&D-driven innovation.
- Connect state education agencies with federal technical assistance centers. Though in flux (see State Leader Play #8 for more information), Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) and Comprehensive Centers (CCs) have historically provided capacity-building support for research, evaluation, data systems, and evidence-based practice.
- Get creative. Explore how existing federal funds could be used to fund R&D activities.
- Advocate at the federal level. Advocate for policies and funding that strengthen state R&D infrastructure, participate in public comment opportunities, and engage congressional representatives. Join the Alliance for Learning Innovation.
Voices From the Field
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Ready to Take Action?
Get Support and Connect with Peers
Have questions about implementing these recommendations in your state? Want to connect with other state leaders working on education R&D initiatives? The Alliance for Learning Innovation is here to help.
Email us directly at contact@alicoalition.org