With growing evidence of what works in education, governments and their partners strive towards scale. While implementation research to adapt solutions holds promise for testing what works, where and for whom, its use in education is limited. Sixty-three international education stakeholders from government, academia, think tanks, local and international non-governmental organizations, multi- and bi-laterals and foundations offer insight into three modes of implementation research that differ on responsiveness, timeliness and stakeholder collaboration. They speak to the primacy of government involvement, trust and curiosity in collaborative efforts. This study explores enabling factors for evidence-based implementation improvement on the pathway to scale. •Impact research in education has fostered progress but offers slow, limited scaling input.•Education implementation research (IR) happens in three modes of responsiveness.•Education stakeholders say IR is not the norm, especially in large-scale programs.•Government demand for evidence drives relevance; trust enables uptake.•Successful IR collaborations pursue a culture of curiosity, avoid fear of failure.