How Co-design Teams in Research-Practice Partnerships Supports Improvements in Early Post Secondary Opportunities

• In Event: Research-Practice Partnership Routines and Structures That Support Inclusive and Equitable Engagement in Improvement Research

Abstract

Study objectives
The goal of this study is to understand how co-design processes and activities within a research-practice partnership contribute to reduced disparities in enrollment in early post-secondary opportunities (EPSO) for students in a large urban school district.

Three school co-design teams (composed of teachers, school counselors, school administrators, district leaders, and university researchers) launched by an RPP during the 2023-2024 school year. Co-design teams examine data to identify a problem of practice, utilize improvement and co-design tools and strategies to better understand the system (e.g. journey mapping and process mapping), and develop strategies to test to improve EPSO access, participation, and success. The three co-design schools also meet as a network improvement community to share strategies and progress.

Theoretical framework
Collaborative design, or co-design, is an approach that engages educators as partners in ways that leverage their expertise, lived experiences, and identities (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016).
Penuel (2019) asserts that co-design should 1) be embedded within research-practice partnerships, 2) focus on promoting collective capacity of diverse teams; and 3) focus on infrastructures that support effective implementation.

EPSOs are high school courses that provide exposure to postsecondary coursework and build foundational career skills as a key lever for increasing postsecondary enrollment and completion (e.g., An & Taylor, 2019; Kolluri, 2018).

Study design
This mixed methods study seeks to answer the question: How do improvement-focused co-design processes and activities within an RPP support school-level improvements to EPSO access, participation, and success?

Data: This study includes both qualitative and quantitative data. After every co-design meeting (N=17), participants complete a brief survey (N=70). Quantitative data on EPSO enrollment by student groups is shared and iterated upon based on the needs of each school. All meetings were observed and detailed notes were taken to document participant contributions, as well as meeting artifacts collected. Learning from co-design meetings were shared at two RPP meetings and one district superintendent cabinet meeting,

Findings
Key findings include;
Co-design work provided a structure to identify change ideas and a system of measures to track progress.
Co-design activities provided access to data that supported participants to learn new information about EPSOs.
Co-design participants felt their contributions were valued and the co-design meetings impacted the EPSO process at their school.
Co-design learning led to changes in policies/practices, such as the addition of a beginning of the year training for master schedulers related to EPSOs.

Scholarly significance
The work not only brought together a diverse school team within schools, but brought the diverse teams together across schools, and brought together the College and Career readiness department, the district research department, and university researchers to work alongside teams.
Co-design has the potential to galvanize efforts, build networks; and connect schools and district offices.

Authors

• Erin C. Henrick, Vanderbilt University

• Richard O. Welsh, Vanderbilt University

• Nicole Hinton, Vanderbilt University