Leveraging Research Practice Partnerships to Build HBCU Faculty Capacity to Research the Teacher Pipeline

• In Event: Count Me In: An HBCU P-20 Research-Practice Partnership to Build Math Teacher Pathways

Abstract

The benefits of research-practice partnerships cannot be overestimated and move in both directions. The limitation of research is that it often focuses on informing practice without taking into account that relevant research must also be actively informed by best practice. In this regard, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are perhaps without rival in their ability to inform the research conversation. For decades, HBCUs have focused on high quality teaching and learning, and much of that teaching, especially in the STEM fields, has been heavily informed by current research, borne out by the disproportionate number of Black medical professionals and scientists educated at the undergraduate level at HBCUs. These institutions hold students to rigorous academic standards enforced by a faculty of scholar-practitioners. HBCU faculty members demand the best of their students academically and have much to share with researchers about best practices in teaching and improving learning outcomes for historically-underserved students, with the intermediate goal of closing the achievement gap and the ultimate goal of closing the economic and social mobility gaps. (Author et al., 2022).
This presentation will highlight a strategic model for institutional partnering supported by the former Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. The researcher will share insights on how the partnership informed rigorous research and relevant resources to inform initiatives to support the teacher pipeline and to increase student outcomes at an HBCU in the Southeast. The focus of the presentation is twofold: 1. highlight how the research-practice partnership facilitated organizational learning to inform pipeline initiatives including for STEM fields 2. share research findings from a needs assessment conducted with faculty to strengthen research capacity to inform those initiatives for various content areas, including math initiatives, and at various institutional levels.
Data Sources. A needs assessment was developed and administered to identify the research interests and needs of faculty at the partnering HBCU. The survey data included faculty demographic characteristics, faculty perceptions of their strengths and areas for improvement in conducting and disseminating research and specific research interests related to the teacher pipeline. For the purposes of this presentation, we will focus specifically on areas of faculty interests related to STEM fields.

Results. Survey findings revealed faculty interest in engaging in research to support the teacher pipeline, with a particular interest in research to support candidate recruitment for specific content areas (i.e., math, science). Findings also reveal interests in supporting research related to how technology can be leveraged to support candidate training and research focused on preparing candidates to teach particular student sub-groups (i.e., students with special needs) within these fields. In terms of building research capacity, faculty had a keen interest in leveraging the RPP to support dissemination efforts to “tell their institutional story” to support recruitment, including for the STEM fields. This finding is aligned with the call from researchers to engage in research to help move research related to HBCUs beyond deficit models to share the effective institutional policies and practices being instituted at these institutions (Commodore, F., Abiola, Ramos, & Gasman, 2015).

Author

• Latara 0. Lampkin, Florida State University