Responsive RPP Adaptation During Disruption¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

A research-practice partnership (RPP) can respond to a crisis or sudden disruption (a pandemic, a policy change, a local emergency) by deliberately pausing its predetermined research agenda and instead producing rapid-turnaround, practically useful information — a quick survey, a dashboard, a synthesis — even at the cost of publishable rigor. This works because prior investment in relational trust between researchers and practitioners, plus an embedded-researcher role that keeps researchers close to day-to-day practice, lets the partnership pivot without collapsing. Continuous, deliberate monitoring of the partnership's environment ("situational awareness" — Endsley, 1988) helps partners notice when such a pivot is needed before practitioners have to ask for it.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Pre-existing relational trust between researchers and practitioners, built before the disruption occurs — partnerships without this history reported struggling more to pivot
• An embedded-researcher role (a researcher regularly present in the practice setting) rather than only periodic formal engagement
• Willingness at the institutional level to accept "completion over perfection" — deprioritizing publishable rigor for immediate practical usefulness during the disrupted period
• Flexible, multi-modal communication infrastructure (a mix of synchronous virtual meetings, in-person contact when possible, and asynchronous channels)

Constraints¶

• This is a low-evidence, qualitative-synthesis strategy (drawn from practitioner reflection, not controlled study) — treat it as plausible practical guidance, not a validated causal mechanism
• Convenience of virtual-only communication should not fully replace in-person contact; practitioners in the source material explicitly noted "nothing beats the energy of being in person"
• RPPs are also embedded in systems of institutional power; equity and inclusion concerns should be actively monitored during rapid-response work, not set aside because of time pressure

Target Learners¶

• Research-practice partnerships supporting schools or districts through an acute disruption (a pandemic, a natural disaster, sudden policy change)

Target Learning Goals¶

• Sustaining a functioning, trusted partnership through disruption, and producing practically useful (if less rigorous) information practitioners can act on immediately

Instructions¶

1. Before any disruption occurs, invest in relational trust and, where feasible, an embedded-researcher presence — these are the resources the partnership will draw on later.
2. Continuously monitor the partnership's environment (partner readiness, institutional conditions, external pressures) rather than assuming stable conditions will persist.
3. When disruption hits, explicitly pause or defer the pre-planned research agenda rather than trying to preserve it unchanged.
4. Shift quickly to rapid-response formats (short surveys, dashboards, synthesis briefs) that answer practitioners' most immediate questions, even knowing the work may not be publishable.
5. Maintain flexible, multi-channel communication (not virtual-only) to preserve relational quality during the shift.
6. After the acute phase passes, deliberately return to reflect on what the disruption revealed about the partnership's own resilience, and consider it a resource for future disruptions rather than a one-time exception.

Related Strategies¶

• (none yet linked)
• Build implementation support through inclusive needs assessments, flexible responses, and online best-practice resources
• Review the evaluation plan and possibilities for further research when funding is restored
• RPP researchers can support practitioner partners through concrete non-research supports such as fundraising support, edtech procurement, and building a lesson database
• Design participation deliberately: align entry points with partners' actual readiness rather than assuming a uniform baseline

Examples¶

• A Boston early-childhood RPP paused longitudinal data collection to rapidly survey teachers' and parents' pandemic experiences; a Houston research-practice partnership with a decade of prior relationship was able to quickly turn around student-needs dashboards for its district because trust and context knowledge were already in place.

Key Sources¶

• Popa, N., Anderson, E. R., Denner, J., McKenney, S., & Peurach, D. J. (2023). Belonging to a research-practice partnership: Lessons from 15 think-pieces about the COVID-19 pandemic and a call for action. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 32(4-5), 682-704. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2023.2253529
• Endsley, M. R. (1988). Design and evaluation for situation awareness enhancement. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, 32(2), 97-101.