June 2023

On June 27, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) published Conducting Implementation Research in Impact Studies of Education Interventions: A Guide for Researchers. The report includes recommendations and steps for implementation research.

The five recommendations highlighted in the guide are:

• Establish research questions and begin developing a plan for collecting, measuring, and analyzing implementation data.
• Specify details about the intervention and its implementation.
• Specify details about context.
• Specify details about the intervention contrast.
• Analyze and report details about the intervention and its implementation as part of the impact study.

The guide supports IES-funded researchers in alignment with the Standards for Excellence in Education Research (SEER), which include implementation as a component. The SEER standards are intended to inform research studies that analyze implementation, impact, and cost as part of IES-funded research. Under implementation, researchers are advised to “document, and identify opportunities to learn from, adaptations of the intervention that were observed during implementation.”

Commenting on these and other IES documents, AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine noted, “Whether you are planning an IES submission now or not, the agency’s guidance materials are extremely valuable in planning and implementing research and for teaching and training about research strategies and methodologies. On behalf of AERA, we appreciate IES preparing such materials.”