About BIRD-E

In September 2019, led by InnovateEDU, the Blueprint for Inclusive Research and Development in Education, or BIRD-E project, was established with the support of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project convened a group of education leaders from research, policy, practice, federal, state and local agencies to evaluate the gaps in education R&D and design a universal framework that supports the structured and consistent articulation of data needs and the compilation, collection, and evaluation of education data. The BIRD-E project aims to bridge the current divide between research and practice. By creating systems that facilitate data generation and allow the sharing of research findings, the accessibility and discoverability of research by practitioners, researchers, and policy makers for decision making is accelerated.

The BIRD-E project has been co-designed by an inclusive and diverse group of stakeholders through a Steering Committee and Working Groups for researchers, practitioners, and industry. Through an inclusive engagement of more than 70 organizations, the Steering Committee and the Working Groups have spearheaded the development of vision, mission, guiding principles, methodology, and the design of the free, open-source framework - The Blueprint.

Building on existing standards, the design of the Blueprint was informed by an intensive landscape analysis and expert review to ensure that it delivers evidence driven by the needs of the practitioners and solves the problems faced by the researchers in conducting well-aligned, high-quality, and cost efficient research.

Learn more about the design methodology here.

Our Mission

BIRD-E brings together K12 leaders and stakeholders to design and develop a universal framework built on a common language to support and promote the development and accessibility of education research. We believe a common language of synchronizing research definitions, benchmarks, and metrics is necessary for evidence-supported interventions that impact student outcomes.

Our Guiding Principles

  • An inclusive and diverse group of stakeholders, practitioners, researchers, federal, state and local agencies, industry leaders and standard bodies, must participate in design, creation, production, and implementation of the Blueprint under the BIRD-E project. It is paramount that the solutions are driven by the needs of the community and integrate with other critical initiatives in the sector to avoid silos and a fragmented approach towards access and use of research.

  • The project is free and open-source. The Blueprint and associated documentation will be shared with the sector upon completion. The design process of the Blueprint will ensure generalizability for different contextual adoption.

  • The design and creation of the Blueprint is use case and data driven to ensure that needs of the practitioners and researchers are accounted for, designed and validated by the community before it becomes the standard of practice for scale.

  • The Blueprint, developed under the BIRD-E project, is the connective tissue between research and practice to make research. It will make research more cost-efficient, aligned, rapid and high-quality. Built in consultation with leading standards bodies, the framework is data system neutral for sector wide adoption and scalability.