Navigating the Black Box: Evaluating Research-Practice Partnership Effectiveness

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

Abstract

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) have become an increasingly popular approach for supporting continuous improvement in K-12 settings. While some key dimensions have been outlined, evaluating RPP effectiveness largely remains a “black box.” Therefore, as part of a 5-year, BLINDED-funded project—known as BLINDED—we developed a quantifiable instrument referred to as the “RPP Effective Teams Rubric” (or RPP-ETR). Highlighting two case districts–Washington and Hamilton–and their partnership with BLINDED University over four years (2020-2024), we demonstrate how the RPP-ETR and its 11 dimensions can be leveraged to evaluate an RPP’s effectiveness over time.

Authors

• Craig De Voto, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Alison Castro Superfine, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Benjamin M. Superfine, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Shelby A. Cosner, University of Georgia

• Yue Yin, University of illinois at Chicago