I recently read an article titled, "Network routers: A new proposal to put education research into practice," written by Valerie Strauss.  She explains in the article that the there is a distinct gap of information sharing between scholars who have the time to research effective educational strategies and teachers and principles who spend all day working with the children.  Valerie explains that much is lost between this faulty communication, and that there is much to gain if these two separate groups of people could work together sharing their expertise and experiences.  She likened this possible connection to installing 'network routers' connecting these separate 'home networks' to each other.

Right now our educational system seems to continually fail when it comes to tapping into resources that are available to us, literally in our own backyard.  Educational scholars could readily give advice and counsel to schools to help expand their knowledge network.  Scholars could establish an informal partnership with principles and help advice them in areas of hiring new staff by seeking counsel on interviewing techniques, HR Cycles, and the traits of effective teacher.  Principles could also use the researchers expertise on structuring professional development, by asking about the frequency, length, and content of successful professional development.  The possibilities are endless and could save school administration a lot of time.  All of these tasks could be done by principles, however there aren't enough hours in the day for them to accomplish this and also deal with the politics and managerial tasks that go with the job.  On the other hand, scholars do this for a living and have the time and interest in researching these topics.

This scenario goes both ways though.  Researchers can receive just as important information and feedback from educators as they give.  Principles can serve the necessary function to connecting academics to real school environments.  It is one thing to know the statistics and most effective way to run things, it is an entirely different situation interacting directly with children.  Valerie Strauss is an educational scholar and mentioned that every time she has a conversation with a teacher of a school leader she learns something new which makes her a better scholar.  This relationship can give scholars greater relevance and can also open possibilities for future research projects.

This cohesive interrelated relationship can only exist if someone on either side takes the initiative, and it seems like due to the amount of time available to each side, scholars are the ones needing to take the first step by contacting principles of schools.  It is important that researchers live near the school they are contacting and working with so that they can have a better understanding of the surroundings and environment the school is in.  In conclusions, I believe that if more relationships like the one Valerie Strauss has with the school near her are developed the educational system will see a positive increase in the way things are ran and developed.  I also believe that this benefit can help improve the students learning also when things are ran more efficiently and efforts are made to find the best teachers and teaching techniques.