Advances in communication technology have created many new tools for school communicators--as well as increasing complexities for their programs. As a result, solid school communication research programs offering practical research insights for planning, tracking, and assessing school communication efforts are more important than ever. Still, many school communication efforts are developed and deployed with little or no investment in research. This article reviews the importance of practical research in school communication efforts. It also offers eight steps for developing practical school communication research efforts, devised by the author during the development of the "School PR Research Primer", a publication from the National School Public Relations Association in 2008.