Julie Kochanek

Julie Reed Kochanek is senior vice president of human services at AIR, director of the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest, and leads AIR’s Education Systems and Policy program area. Dr. Kochanek has more than 15 years of experience in research and evaluation of school reform efforts, with a special focus on the social and organizational conditions surrounding schools and districts. Her current work explores methods to bridge research and practice in education. Dr. Kochanek recently concluded a William T. Grant Foundation-sponsored study of knowledge utilization in district decision-making. In her current role on REL Midwest and her previous role as the director of research for REL Northeast & Islands, she has designed and implemented structures and procedures that engage stakeholders in the research process, facilitate conversations between researchers and practitioners throughout a project life cycle, and entail the inclusion of activities that support stakeholders in the use of findings. As part of this work, she developed tools to guide a process for developing a long-term research agenda and assisted state and local education agencies in partnering with researchers to better serve the agency’s interests. In addition, she has designed and conducted studies of collaborative research models including a study of variation in research alliance formation and a study of changes in researcher attitudes and behaviors when engaged in collaborative research.