Navigating the Internal and External Politics of Research-Practice Partnership: Negotiations of Race, Research, and Role

• In Event: School-University Partnership Paper Session: From Building to Evaluating Effective Research-Practice Partnerships

Abstract

While guided by the principles of trust and mutuality and touted as a form of educational remedy, research-practice partnerships (RPPs) involve on-going political contestations. In this paper, using a case study of an out-of-school educational program designed by an RPP between a university and its local school district, we examine the ways that leaders on both the research- and practice-side navigate and negotiate the internal politics of inter-institutional collaboration in addition to external politicized conditions. We identify and examine three critical domains of negotiation, offering examples of how tensions and conflicts were (un)resolved. We conclude by exploring potential ways for institutions involved in RPPs to work toward compromise for the sake of making progress toward convergent goals.

Authors

• Christopher Hu, University of Alabama

• Katrina Debnam, University of Virginia