Research Practice Partnerships (RPPs) as long-term partnerships focused on problems of practice¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (1 for, 1 mixed) · 2 studies (1 review, 1 design), q1 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

RPPs bring researchers and practitioners together to study problems of practice from the field. The report traces their emergence in the No Child Left Behind era as a way to close the research-to-practice gap, citing Coburn, Penuel, and Geil (2013), where they were defined as "intentionally fostered, long-term partnerships focused on problems of practice and committed to mutual benefit." A more recent definition (Farrell et al., 2021) adds emphasis on equity, harnessing diverse forms of expertise, and intentionally shifting power dynamics so both researcher and practitioner have a voice.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Long-term commitment and mutual benefit between research and practitioner partners

Constraints¶

• The report presents RPPs as one of four models ranging from discrete to comprehensive, suited to iterative, agile, comparative improvement research

Target Learners¶

• School practitioners and education researchers partnering on problems of practice

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Educational improvement and equitable transformation through collaborative research

Claims¶

• Research questions are rarely conceived in partnership with practitioners, which undermines research impact on educational decision making [~W]
• Relational trust and rapid-response adaptation help research-practice partnerships survive acute disruption [+W]

Related Theories¶

• Participatory design as a discrete approach to engaging practitioners in research design
• Henrick, Cobb, Penuel, Jackson and Clark's Dimension 3: RPPs should support the practitioner side in achieving its goals
• Research-Practice-Industry Partnerships (RPIPs) integrating problems of practice, learning sciences, and edtech development
• Research-practice partnership model treating research as public, relational, and adaptive infrastructure
• Research-practice partnership model for improving problems of educational practice
• Research-Practice-Industry Partnership (RPIP) model

Examples¶

• Conduct research in partnership with educators on equity problems educators prioritize
• Complement experimental scale-up research with design and improvement methods such as RPPs, DBIR, and Networked Improvement Communities
• Responsive RPP Adaptation During Disruption
• RPP researchers can support practitioner partners through concrete non-research supports such as fundraising support, edtech procurement, and building a lesson database
• Future RPP work should investigate which problems of practice suit the RPP framework, gather honest practitioner input, and consider the role of the whole RPP team
• Monthly check-ins and co-led collaborative learning events across partner institutions
• Engage teachers, families, and designers in participatory, iterative co-design of CT learning activities rather than adopting packaged solutions
• CSUB Teacher Residency Consortium, a monthly professional learning community of residency coordinators

Key Sources¶

• Pautz Stephenson, S., Banks, R., & Pakhira D. (2022, December). Practitioners at the center: Catalyzing research on problems of practice in realistic settings. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/164