Expanding Conceptions of Equity From Network Practice to the Research Process (Poster 6)

• In Event: Educational Partnerships as Collective Resistance: Perspectives From Emerging Scholars and Collaborators

Abstract

Objectives
Long before anti-Black racism made national news after the murder of George Floyd, equity was on the agenda in the Main Unified School District (USD) instructional coaching network. The Main USD instructional coaching network is a community of 45 school-based teachers on special assignment working to advance equity by ameliorating achievement gaps. As a researcher-practitioner team, we spent four years studying knowledge-sharing in this network, a project within a larger research-practice partnership (RPP). Our case study suggests ways teams can advance equity in collaborative education research.

Theoretical Framework
We use the Senechal et al. (2022) framework to outline ways that we enacted equity in relationships with each other and our RPP project. The model centers five elements of RPP project design: equity in topic, method, language, relationships, and goals. It also considers system factors and socio-political contexts that can constrain equitable RPP projects. The interconnectedness of elements in the framework reflects broader discourses on RPP participants’ roles, RPP development over time, and research’s eventual impact (Crain-Dorough & Elder, 2021; Farrell, Coburn, et al., 2019; Farrell, Harrison, et al., 2019).

Methods and Data
We use a case study to illuminate our experience elevating equity in an RPP project. Case study is a valuable method for using multiple sources of data for in-depth study of a bounded context (Creswell & Poth, 2017). Our data includes recollection of our research process; artifacts collected throughout our project; and participant observation, interview, survey, and social network data.

Results
As project leaders, we modeled equity in our interactions. Our project scope combined a practitioner interest in understanding knowledge-sharing at Main USD network meetings and a researcher interest in using social network analysis. When conceptualizing equity—an important network construct—we used Main USD definitions, anchor texts, and oft-quoted authors to describe equity in our project design and communications. Further, we developed boundary practices to facilitate equitable relationships among our project team (Farrell et al., 2022). As we led, these actions sought to level power relations and situate the research in the local context.
Throughout the project, we aimed to maintain similar respect for our research participants. We used observation and interview feedback to shape network improvement. Additionally, the network members received regular updates on research progress to ensure that participants understood how their engagement shaped the project (Chicago Beyond, 2019). After the first two years of the project, we transitioned to design-based implementation research with a subset of coaches so participants could lead the research process from design to dissemination (Penuel et al., 2011).

Significance
Throughout our project, we sought to transform conventional research relations through close partnership and centering the people closest to the issues. Notions of progressive, intellectually free researchers might suggest that universities are the primary source of innovation on equity. Yet, traditions of activist praxis remind us that practitioners often lead the way in advancing justice (Kelley, 2002). Just as educators are called to celebrate the wisdom of students, research-practice partnerships should honor the wisdom of educational practice.

Authors

• Kemi A. Oyewole, University of Pennsylvania

• eve arbogast, San Francisco Unified School District