As part of the efforts of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in support of the national goals for education (America 2000), staff members are cataloguing and synthesizing research to connect it to federal practice. This paper presents the basic argument that synthesizing research and translating it into practice-oriented language are activities that construct new meanings from a body of knowledge. Those who receive the results of the synthesis and translation activities also construct meaning, and they do so in the multiple communities of school and classroom life. For those who receive research-based knowledge, information is only one type of knowledge influencing the actions of teachers, principals, parents, and others who deal directly with children. The contexts to be affected by research findings are complex and lead to multiple and sometimes competing understandings. An alternative perspective on synthesis and translation shifts the focus to a user construction that sees information as something to be molded and shaped by the perceiver. Seeing the task in this light could affect the way the OERI approaches the activity and the ways in which it identifies gaps in existing knowledge. There is a 49-item list of references. (SLD)