Research Practice Partnerships . . . It Takes a Village: Enhancing the Benefits of an RPP Through Multiple Research Methods and Multiple Voices

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium centers around the Research Practice Partnership (RPP) between Achieve Atlanta (AATL) and Georgia Policy Labs (GPL) at Georgia State University (GSU). AATL helps Atlanta Public Schools (APS) students access, afford, and earn postsecondary credentials. Since its first cohort in 2016, nearly 6,000 APS graduates have received the AATL Scholarship and complementary supports.

We will discuss how RPPs, such as this one, operate and conduct research to improve students’ lives. In addition, we will focus on how our RPP incorporates additional people, voices, and methods to enhance its work to better serve students, inform policy, and also better inform, train, and educate researchers, future researchers, and practitioners alike.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Mixed Methods Research

Cosponsor

• Division D - Measurement and Research Methodologies / Division D - Section 4: Multi-Method and Mixed Methods

Chair

• Jenny Irons, William T. Grant Foundation

Participants

• Jonathan Smith, Georgia State University

• Samuel Jones Rauschenberg, Achieve Atlanta

• Amy Elizabeth Stich, University of Georgia

• Za Eng Mawi, Georgia State University

Papers

• Achieve Atlanta’s Impact on College Students: Mixed Method Approach - Jonathan Smith, Georgia State University; Amy Elizabeth Stich, University of Georgia

• Assessing Atlanta’s Placed-Based College Scholarship - Jonathan Smith, Georgia State University

• The Financial and Academic Impacts of Achieve Atlanta's Place-Based Scholarship - Za Eng Mawi, Georgia State University

Discussants

• Daivon Jarrell, Georgia State University

• Myla Williams, Georgia State University