Our Work - Student Experience Research Network

Student Experience Research Network, formerly known as Mindset Scholars Network, is grounded in an interdisciplinary understanding that, in order to learn and thrive, students need to experience respect as valued people and thinkers — and that the practices, policies, and norms in education and society have inequitably shaped this experience of school depending on who students are and the opportunities they are afforded.

Our work connects people and ideas across research, practice, and policy to advance relevant scientific knowledge and improve decision-making by education system and institution leaders so that every student’s experience of school sets them up to learn and thrive.

What We Do

We create opportunities – in the form of resources, events, and network- and capacity-building – for stakeholders across research, practice, and policy to conduct and engage with research related to student experience. We build relationships with researchers who are advancing our collective scientific knowledge and with education influencer and intermediary organizations, such as policy organizations, system-level providers, funders, developers of education resources, and teacher preparation and professional learning organizations, that play a key role in shaping decision-making by leaders in education systems and institutions.

Currently, few established feedback loops exist between research on student experience and education practice and policy.
At the same time, research that is responsive to the priorities and insights of practice and policy stakeholders is often
disincentivized by the structures of the academy.

We bridge these gaps so that research on student experience informs policy and practice decisions and so that questions
and insights from policy and practice stakeholders can shape future research. The pillars of our work include:

Creating Connections

We host events and facilitate conversations that advance new scholarship and elevate insights and applications from relevant research.

We invest in the power of the collective: We bring groups of individuals and organizations together to share learning, develop skills and knowledge, crosspollinate between the disparate initiatives and networks they are part of, and build and reinforce important narratives in the national conversation in education.

Facilitating Research Through Field-Building

We enable research on student experience that can contribute to longterm structural change in education.

We invest in the leadership of researchers doing practically relevant scholarship that is interdisciplinary and equity-centered, by connecting them to funding and professional learning opportunities, providing resources and connections that can support their work, and serving as an ally to partners who are pursuing longer-term structural shifts in the academy to better support this kind of scholarship.

We share insights from our engagement with education practice and policy stakeholders that have the potential to spark or inform future research.

Making Research Clear and Meaningful

We synthesize, translate, and help organizations make meaning of key research insights that speak to how practices, policies, and norms shape student experience.

We translate key research into clear insights by creating accessible resources and looking beyond individual studies to consider the implications of bodies of research holistically.

We work with leading education influencers and intermediaries to consider their strategies, messaging, programming, advising, and investments through the lens of research on student experience.

What We Believe

We envision a just and equitable education system in which practices, policies, and norms collectively and consistently affirm students’ humanity.

We believe that problems in education are rooted in structures, not students. We believe that scientific knowledge – and its use by decision-makers – can help create a system that respects every student as a valued person and thinker.

Who Funds Our Work