Efforts to improve education often draw on research about how people learn and develop. However, turning intricate research findings into effective practices is not always straightforward. People may struggle to understand or accept the complexity of explanations of how we learn, especially when those explanations vary by multiple variables such as student characteristics, subject area, context, or involve dynamic interactions. This project will examine how educators and decision-makers reason about such complex models of the learner when evaluating educational interventions for potential implementation. The research will investigate why individuals sometimes resist adopting research-based practices that include variation in effectiveness across contexts, and how this resistance may limit the use of effective, evidence-based strategies in schools. The findings will support efforts to improve how educational innovations are communicated, evaluated, and implemented, ensuring that all students benefit from approaches that are tailored to a wide range of learning needs and contexts. Using a combination of qualitative interviews and experimental studies this project examine how educators and other stakeholders understand and act on complex causal information when making decisions about educational interventions. A primary focus will be on moderated causal models—those in which an intervention’s effects vary depending on characteristics such as student background, subject matter