Braiding Research and Practice: Attending to Power Dynamics and Co-Creating Knowledge to Improve Educational Systems

• In Event: Positionality and Research Use in Educational Policy and Practice: Toward Evidence-Informed Decisions

Abstract

1. Objectives
We present emerging findings from a study of research-practice partnerships (RPPs) that examines how educators navigate positionality to braid research and practice in ways that attend to power dynamics and foster knowledge use to improve educational systems. The strategies, activities, and motivations we explore reveal how educators position themselves to influence decision-making and collaborate with researchers to translate evidence into action and build new knowledge.
2. Perspectives
We begin with recognition that who shares knowledge, with whom, and for what purpose fundamentally shapes how research is used in practice. Educators' and researchers' positionalities are shaped by identities, institutional affiliations, history, and relationships to systemic power (Author2 et al., 2019; Wegemer & Renick, 2021). Their collaborative roles in research–practice partnerships (RPPs) evolve as they navigate trust, authority, and the politics of knowledge use (Denner et al., 2019). Rather than treating research use as neutral or linear, we build on approaches that emphasize co-construction of knowledge, relational accountability, and shared ownership, while attending to power asymmetries within partnerships (Gist et al., 2024). We attend to whose knowledge counts, how it circulates, and what purpose it serves—highlighting that evidence use is contextual and contested in efforts to transform education (Kirkland, 2019).
3. Methods
We draw on a multi-year dataset of 65 RPPs across the U.S., including survey responses from 285 RPP members and interviews with 132 participants across research, practitioner, and community-based organizations. Initial analyses of the dataset contributed to a growing understanding of Dimensions and Indicators of RPP Effectiveness that led to revised adaptations of Henrick et al.’s (2017) framework. We examine how educators and researchers collaborate to use and co-create research evidence. Data were analyzed using iterative thematic coding and cross-case analysis, with particular attention to the site sphere—how RPP work is enacted and understood in local educational contexts.
4. Findings
Our emerging analysis suggests that educators take on dynamic roles as boundary spanners—interpreting, co-constructing, and applying research in ways that are responsive to their local contexts. We are beginning to identify a set of interconnected practices through which educators and researchers braid research and practice. These include: 1) creating shared routines for co-analysis and co-design; 2) cultivating reciprocal relationships rooted in mutual learning and trust; and 3) attending to power asymmetries by recognizing whose knowledge counts and how it is shared. These insights point to ways educators position themselves as active participants in knowledge production, shaping not only how research is used but also how it is generated.
5. Significance
This study deepens understanding of research use as a social, relational, and political process shaped by positionality and power (Coburn & Penuel, 2016; Author2 et al., 2019). We highlight how educators and researchers co-construct knowledge through trust, routines, and shared authority. We show how context-specific roles and histories shape what counts as useful evidence and how it is mobilized (Oliver & Cairney, 2019). Our findings suggest that cultivating awareness of one's positionality and building collaborative routines can strengthen the relationships between research, policy, and practice to improve educational systems.

Authors

• Lindsey J. Kaiser, University of Maine

• Caitlin Farrell, University of Colorado - Boulder