The CADRE Team
Summer offers a welcome shift in rhythm for many STEM education research teams. With fewer school-year demands, it is an ideal time to regroup, analyze data, and prepare for dissemination and the next grant proposal. For many DRK-12 projects, summer is more than a pause—it is a time to innovate, deepen partnerships, and amplify learning. Here are examples of how summer work can go further:
Engagement-Driven Dissemination
Summer is a prime time to finalize reports or conference proposals—but it is also a chance to experiment with more engaging, audience-centered dissemination. Shifting dissemination from a product-focused task to a user-driven process can increase reach and relevance.
- Co-create infographics or toolkits with teachers, or test out short videos or idea briefs tailored to policy audiences.
- Build dissemination partnerships to expand your network.
Data Reflection
Many projects clean data and run models in the summer. Teams can also hold internal data retreats or sensemaking conversations with partners to ask deeper questions that may surface surprises or identify practical implications (e.g., What do findings mean for practitioners? How are stakeholders interpreting the data? What assumptions need reexamination?).
Transformative Partnership Building
With more flexible schedules, summer is an ideal window to strengthen relationships and shift from transactional to transformative partnerships.
- Revisit partnership principles and practices with collaborators to identify opportunities to improve by facilitating cross-role retreats or reflective evaluations.
- Invest in partner capacity building, for example, by offering summer workshops on research methods or co-design practices.
Professional Development (PD) Practice Documentation
Summer PD is common, but it can also become an opportunity for documenting PD design and practices to produce practical guidance for future efforts and the field.
Strategic Orientation Mapping
Summer may allow project teams to step back and ask what story they are telling and where they are going next.
- Update your theory of change based on what’s been learned and what’s emerging.
- Strategize your project's “arc of influence” (conferences, networks, or policy conversations you’ll participate in the next year).
- Create documentation (succinct briefs or impact narratives) that make your work understandable and compelling to future audiences.
Here are a few examples of how your colleagues have maximized their summer:
- One DRK–12 project team partnered with a district’s summer institute to share findings directly with instructional coaches, inviting feedback and generating demand for piloting the next iteration of their toolkit.
- A DRK–12 team is experimenting with “co-learning cohorts” that blend teacher professional learning with design sessions that directly inform future research cycles.
- A rural STEM education team convened educators and community members for a two-day summer retreat focused on envisioning how local knowledge could be centered in curriculum co-design.
Lay the groundwork for deeper impact in the year ahead by approaching summer as a season for reflection, collaboration, and strategic action.