The article presents the research results on the purposes, contents, and evaluation of applied educational research in 19 upper secondary schools in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The results show that more than three-quarters of the participants reported that the purpose of applied educational research helps to develop their scientific research capacity, to propose measures to improve the quality of education, and to identify limitations in subject matter teaching. Research topics are often related to teaching and student education and produce good research results. Applied educational research was evaluated at two levels: the school level and then the Department of Education and Training level. Schools are using educational initiative criteria to evaluate applied educational action research. Schools have neither had specific regulations on the expertise of the evaluators nor invited outside experts to participate in the evaluation of topics.