The Center for Knowledge Use ...  Shaping the Industry
            "Using Knowledge for a Change"

In 2003 Knowledge Alliance (then known as NEKIA) launched a major
effort to examine how knowledge generated through research is
developed, applied and used in k-12 education.  In early 2006 we
established the NEKIA Center for Knowledge Use (a newly activated
501 c 3 non partisan, non profit organization) to advance knowledge
use concepts in school improvment. It is our belief that the effective
use of education knowledge can significantly enhance and accelerate
the nationwide efforts to improve academic performance and close
achievement gaps in k-12 education. Education knowledge can and
should be an essential factor in shaping policy and practice at all levels.

We recognize that current approaches to knowledge use in K-12
education are frequently hampered by a number of impediments and
flaws including: a serious disconnect among the research community,
practitioners, developers and policy makers; inadequate capacity at
the local and state levels to facilitate an effective knowledge use
system;  lack of  cultural or institutional incentives to promote greater
knowledge use. In order to address the increasingly urgent demand for
knowledge-based solutions to educational problems at the local, state
and federal levels, new approaches to effective knowledge use are
needed that can be sustained and expanded in significant ways over
time.     

Knowledge Alliance believes that effective knowledge use should be a
central organizing theme of school improvement policies and practice
across the country.