The Launch of the Philadelphia Education Research Consortium: Lessons From the First Year of Implementation

• In Event: Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Advancing Reform: The Role of Relationships, Networks, and Partners in District Improvement

Abstract

The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium was launched in July 2014 as an innovative place-based consortium of educational research partners from multiple sectors. Its primary objective is to provide research and analyses on some of the city’s most pressing education issues. This paper’s guiding research question is: How does an urban education research consortium fil gaps in district/charter capacity for conducting applied research by establishing working relationships with practitioners and drawing on the deep pool of research talent that exists in the area? To address this question, the paper details the process by which PERC selected and executed its first research project: an in-depth analysis of how best to apply the emerging concept of Blended Learning to Philadelphia school contexts.

Authors

• Kathleen M. Shaw, Research for Action

• Tonya E. Wolford, School District of Philadelphia

• Liza M. Rodriguez, Research for Action

• Brittan Hallar, Research for Action

• Jessica K. Beaver, Research for Action