Midwest Alliance to Improve Knowledge Utilization (MAIKU) (Historical)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) called on practitioners and policymakers in education to use rigorous evidence when deciding how to invest their resources. As a result, many education stakeholders across the Midwest were grappling with how to successfully equip state and local education agency staff to access, use, and disseminate research results.

The REL Midwest Alliance to Improve Knowledge Utilization (MAIKU) examined and shared effective strategies for increasing the uptake of research results by state and local education agency staff. MAIKU focused on knowledge utilization in a variety of states across the Midwest region.

Educators based in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin were working with REL Midwest on projects in this area, ranging from research methods trainings to coaching on developing surveys and identifying evidence-based practices.