Innovation Through Anchored Collaboration

• In Event: Moving Advanced High School Courses to Poverty-Impacted Urban Settings: Multidisciplinary Research on Rigor, Access, Learning, and Engagement

Abstract

This paper examines an “anchored collaboration” model (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999) of research and development. Improving the impact of research on problems in education has been a longstanding and yet largely unmet goal of our field. According to Penuel, Fishman, Cheng & Sabelli (2011), understanding “the commonalties across geographically dispersed teams and organizations who are engaged in collaborative research and development is a first step in organizing a community of scholars who can critique and refine these models for research and development (p. 3).

This paper describes a model of collaborative research and design, developed over a 5-year period, in which researchers, school districts and foundation partners are co-designing and implementing project-based learning in the context of Advanced Placement courses. The courses were initially designed and iteratively tested first in suburban schools and then in urban, poverty-impacted schools: A project-based AP-U.S. Government course was developed and implemented over two years (with revision between years 1 and 2) in suburban schools. Expansion included the development of a second project-based course in AP-Environmental Science that again was iteratively tested in the suburban school context. After a 2-year cycle, each course was iteratively tested in urban schools where the research focus shifted to that of understanding and developing curriculum adaptations and pedagogical supports (e.g., related to content area reading) that would enable deep learning and engagement by students who might otherwise struggle with rigorous AP content.

A case study describing the goals, strategies, organization, and outcomes of the anchored collaboration model will be presented. Data sources include analysis of interviews with partners (i.e., school district, foundation, and researcher team members) and triangulation of case study descriptions by team members. Key features of the model include: (1) A partnership that is characterized by goals and strategies that are jointly developed by the partners (i.e., as contrasted with a model in which researchers simply secure the cooperation of practitioners to implement and test new interventions); (2) a collaborative of domain experts and researchers representing different fields of study (e.g., literacy, motivation, learning sciences, curriculum, policy) and whose varied expertise is essential in understanding/addressing the complexities of schooling; a (3) a curriculum that is co-designed by practitioners, content experts, and researchers; (4) iterative implementations and improvements that include student voices; (5) a curriculum focused on deep learning that is adapted and elaborated for different implementation contexts (e.g., that includes specific modifications for students with content area reading difficulties); and (6) a program that is being designed “for scale” through iterative development, testing, and revision across different school contexts.

This paper articulates a promising model for promoting research-informed innovation in schools that can support a broader range of students to experience success.

Authors

• John D. Bransford, University of Washington

• Nancy J. Vye, University of Washington