Presented as part of a panel discussion chaired by Bill Trochim called Gap or Trap? Rethinking Evaluation’s Response to Evidence-Based Programs and the Research-Practice Gap. There is a continued need to find mechanisms that enable a better connection between knowledge generation and application. The “golden spike” approach (Urban & Trochim, AJE 2009) is a method that builds on theory-driven evaluation and logic modeling to help link program theory and evaluation measures to a research-derived evidence base. Using resources including the Educational Resources Information Center, we established a structured procedure for academic literature searches based on extracting key constructs and phrases from a program’s pathway model (a logic model showing hypothesized causal connections). This approach eases the undue burden often placed on practitioners and local evaluators to demonstrate evidence of long-term program impacts. In this session, we present how to apply this approach through literature searches guided by a program’s pathway model.#goldenspike #ExtensionEducationEvaluation #researchpracticeintegration #OrganizationalLearningandEvalCapacityBuilding #2012Conference #HowTo