The Convening Process: A New Technique for Applying Knowledge to Practice

U.S. Department of Education staff created and evaluated a Convening Process to help educational administrators and policymakers make sound decisions based on practical experience, research, and evaluation in short periods of time. This article describes the background and rationale for the Convening Process and its relation to other efforts to increase the use of research and evaluation information. Convening Process experiences with the District of Columbia Public Schools and the State of Mississippi Department of Education are summarized and the impact of each experience is discussed. To guide future uses of the Convening Process, situational and procedural differences are analyzed. This analysis provides the basis for specific advice on replicating the Convening Process by explaining the operation of the key elements: (a) the identification of practical problems that can be resolved with currently available knowledge; (b) the use of consultant colleagues with appropriate expertise; and (c) the use of consultant groups to acquire, analyze, and exchange information with local stakeholders to arrive at recommendations based on consensus.