Balancing Transformation in Research-Practice Partnerships: The Need for Intentional Goal Setting for Researchers

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

Abstract

The aim of Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) is to address problems of practice within a practitioner or community-based organization (Coburn & Penuel., 2016; Farrell et al., 2022; Henrick et al., 2017). However, RPPs, particularly school-university partnerships that include teacher education programs, should be intentional about the expectations for the university to transform and impact teacher educators, pre-service teachers, and graduate students working with RPP teams (Finnegan, 2023; Dresden et al., 2023). Through case study research, this paper examines the potential for researchers to be responsible for transformation. Findings demonstrate that RPP teams must set intentional goals and expectations to ensure that lasting and profound changes in practice take hold not only in the school district but also at the university.

Authors

• Danielle Gervais Sodani, American University

• Sarah Irvine Belson, American University