Fostering Research-Practice Partnerships at the State Level: The Mathematics Instructional Coaching Project

• In Event: Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap: Evaluation and Problem Solving Within Research-Practice Partnerships

Abstract

Objective
This paper describes a collaborative project between the Learning Research and Development Center and state Department of Education (TDOE). Supported by an Institute of Education Science’s Continuous Improvement Research in Education Grant, this collaborative effort sought to foster the development of a network of mathematics coaches who will partner with the project team to test and refine a model for mathematics instructional coaching. By the end of the three-year project, we aim to have a model for instructional coaching that can be distributed to support high-quality mathematics teaching and student learning throughout the state of Tennessee.

Conceptual Framework
This paper contributes to emerging interest in the education field in thinking critically about the characteristics of successful research-practice partnerships (Coburn, Penuel & Geil, 2013; Penuel, Allen, Coburn & Farrell 2015). In particular, recent work by Penuel and colleagues (2015) provides a helpful way to conceptualize research-practice partnerships as a form of joint work requiring mutual engagement across multiple boundaries, and calls attention to the boundary practices that are inherent in this joint work (Akkerman & Baker, 2011). Our work is guided conceptually by this emerging body of work on research-practice partnerships and by prior research and theory on collaboration that points to the complex social practices that are involved in organizing work that spans organizational and professional boundaries (Gray & Wood, 1991).

Methods/Data sources
The co-authors of this paper are positioned to examine the partnership as participant observers. As key members of the project team representing both the research and practice sides of the partnership, we have sought to document and facilitate team reflection on our emergent partnerships throughout the first year of our project. This paper will draw on meeting notes and data from a survey of team member’s perceptions of partnership health in order to examine the challenges and opportunities associated with research-practice partnerships.

Results
The product of our analytic reflection on the partnership will highlight strategic actions taken by project leaders to continuously improve the functioning of our joint work. Through a spotlight on critical events in partnership development we will demonstrate the importance of key dimensions of collaboration including mutualism and boundary practices. For example, we will explore the iterative refinement of partnership structures such as project teams including representation from both research and practice partners and project meeting routines that provide opportunities for both perspectives to shape the trajectory of joint work.

Scholarly Significance
The educational field is increasingly promoting and accepting research activity that is the product of joint work between research and practitioners. For example, research-funding agencies such as the Institute of Education Sciences and the Spencer Foundation have launched new grant programs that aim to stimulate partnerships. As more partnerships launch, there is need for research that examines ways to make these investments most productive. Our paper contributes to this interest in the field, spotlighting a partnership with a state level educational agency.

Authors

• Jennifer L. Russell, University of Pittsburgh

• Mary Kay Stein, University of Pittsburgh

• Richard James Correnti, University of Pittsburgh

• Laura Booker, Tennessee Department of Education

• Nate Schwartz, Tennessee Department of Education

• Nicole Roberts, Tennessee Department of Education

• Laura Stelitano, University of Pittsburgh

• Bethany J Pullen, University of Pittsburgh