Partnerships in Action: A New RPP Highlights the Field’s Evolution
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Partnerships in Action: A New RPP Highlights the Field’s Evolution
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Even to a casual observer, the research-practice partnerships “tent” has expanded considerably since the seminal 2013 paper by Coburn et al., "Research-Practice Partnerships: A Strategy for Leveraging Research for Educational Improvement in School Districts." Whereas RPPs today operate at multiple levels of policy and practice and may comprise a wider range of partners than in the past, Coburn et al.’s scan of the relatively nascent landscape of partnerships was intended to focus on RPPs between researchers and school districts. What’s more, notions of equity—now central to the work of many RPPs—were largely absent from analysis. Altogether, in the shadow of today’s big tent, the rigorously constructed typology described in 2013 looks narrow.
Drawing from a considerable body of recent evidence, including multiple studies funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, a new overview of the field seeks to build upon Coburn et al.’s original framework to refresh how we define RPPs and conceive of their variability. Describing their approach to and rationale for taking stock of today’s RPPs, Farrell et al. write in the introduction to "Research-Practice Partnerships in Education: The State of the Field": “It made greater sense to break down strategies and approaches to highlight the key dimensions along which RPPs can vary, rather than hold tight to a typology that no longer captured the complexities of RPP work” (2021, p. 4). They continue, “…Naming the diversity of organizational styles can inform choices on how to design [RPPs]. It can also shape future scholarship on the effects design features may have on outcomes” (2021, p. 13).
Farrell et al. identify the four key points of variation among contemporary RPPs as: goals, composition, approaches to research, and funding sources. To give a practical example of how one might situate an RPP using these four dimensions, we describe below the creation, development, and first steps of a brand new RPP, the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC).
We believe that this short case study illuminates differences between the place-based “research alliances” described by Coburn et al. and the current vision of RRPs put forth by Farrell et al., among them the centrality of equity and greater involvement among newer RRPs in promoting positive change.
Drawing from a considerable body of recent evidence, including multiple studies funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, a new overview of the field seeks to build upon Coburn et al.’s original framework to refresh how we define RPPs and conceive of their variability. Describing their approach to and rationale for taking stock of today’s RPPs, Farrell et al. write in the introduction to "Research-Practice Partnerships in Education: The State of the Field": “It made greater sense to break down strategies and approaches to highlight the key dimensions along which RPPs can vary, rather than hold tight to a typology that no longer captured the complexities of RPP work” (2021, p. 4). They continue, “…Naming the diversity of organizational styles can inform choices on how to design [RPPs]. It can also shape future scholarship on the effects design features may have on outcomes” (2021, p. 13).
Farrell et al. identify the four key points of variation among contemporary RPPs as: goals, composition, approaches to research, and funding sources. To give a practical example of how one might situate an RPP using these four dimensions, we describe below the creation, development, and first steps of a brand new RPP, the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC).
We believe that this short case study illuminates differences between the place-based “research alliances” described by Coburn et al. and the current vision of RRPs put forth by Farrell et al., among them the centrality of equity and greater involvement among newer RRPs in promoting positive change.
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Research/Scholarly Media
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Easton, J., & Bates, M. (2021). Partnerships in Action: A New RPP Highlights the Field’s Evolution [Blog Post]. RPPs in Education: The State of the Field. William T. Grant Foundation. https://wtgrantfoundation.org/partnerships-in-action-a-new-rpp-highlights-the-fields-evolution
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 Research-Practice Partnerships: A Strategy for Leveraging Research for Educational Improvement in School Districts |
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