The Partnership Pact: Fulfilling School Districts' Research Needs with University-District Partnerships (original) (raw)
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School-university partnerships, 2024
Purpose-Many researchers partner with schools but may be unfamiliar with practices for initiating contact and sustaining relationships with school leaders. Partnering with schools requires significant effort from the researcher to nurture communication and trust. This can pose challenges for researchers who are new to the field, have relocated to a new university or need to rebuild relationships due to transitions in school staffing. Design/methodology/approach-In this mixed-methods study, we interviewed and surveyed school and district leaders in Delaware to learn how researchers can best communicate and form relationships with schools and districts. Findings-We found no singular best method exists to initiate contact with schools and districts. Rather, researchers should consider the unique needs of the local context. Leaders' decision to participate in research was most influenced by their own interest in the research topic, alignment with schools' needs and researchers' willingness to build a relationship with the local education agency. Originality/value-Despite broad acknowledgment about the importance of school-university partnerships, few studies directly engage educators in discussing their goals, preferences and needs when working with researchers. We sought to formalize an understanding of best practices researchers can consider when initiating contact and building relationships with schools, directly from the perspective of school and district leaders. Developing these understandings from practitioners ensures the information authentically represents the perspectives of those who researchers seek to connect with, rather than assumptions of the researcher.
Developing Practitioner-Scholars through University-School District Research Partnerships
2016
partnerships have gained popularity in the United States as a means of extending university research resources and collaborative opportunities. However, research-driven partnerships between universities and K-12 school districts that prioritize the research needs of K-12 schools are unique. Recently, education scholars have been exploring partnership models with potentially greater benefits for various school district stakeholders. To date, there is limited research on how these partnerships can be leveraged as a pedagogical approach to effectively support the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) students who are emerging as practitioner-scholars. This qualitative study helps fill that gap by examining the impacts of one newly formed researchpractice partnership that utilized a service-learning model. Our findings suggest that conducting authentic K-12 district-driven research projects may be one avenue for providing transformative learning experiences to practitioner-scholars while also meeting the needs of the school district partners in the community through the production of public scholarship.
School Districts and Research Organizations: Partners for School Improvement
2000
This paper describes partnerships created by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) that were designed to facilitate school improvement through collaborative action research. After analysis of these partnership experiences, several recommendations were developed for creating and sustaining effective partnerships between research organizations and schools or districts. McREL selected seven partner sites, one from each state in the region McREL serves, to represent various geographic locations and student populations. As the work of these projects progressed, wide variance became evident in the stability of the partnerships, and only four were maintained for 3 years as initially planned. After documenting and analyzing the development and outcomes of the partnerships, five factors were identified that influenced the sustainability and effectiveness of the partnerships: (1) the political and cultural context of the school districts influenced multiple facets of the partnership ; (2) partners' motivation to engage in the partnership was increased as they saw that their efforts made a difference; (3) establishing clear goals kept the partnership on course; (4) partnerships were strengthened by partners' different yet complementary resources and skills; and (5) committed leadership at various levels was critical. The implications of these findings for the development of future partnerships with school districts are discussed. (Contains 24 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
University-Local District Partnerships: The Case of the California Educational Research Cooperative
1990
The structure and function of the California Educational Research Cooperative (CERC), a collaborative action research organization designed to link research to educational practice, is described in this paper. A brief history of school-university partnerships and a review of the status of these partnerships is provided, followed by a description of the CERC research cycle, which is based on purposeful agenda setting, and of the CERC governance structure, which is based on a participative decision making forum. Based on the success of CERC so far, it is concluded that factors for success of school-university partnerships, should include: (1) shared professional resources and services; (2) relevant research programs with practical significance; (3) professional collegiality and training; (4) school improvement objectives; (5) quarterly reports and assessments; and (6) public support. Five figures present information on CERC financial and organizational aspects and on school-university partnership characteristics. (21 references) (LMI)
Collaborative Partnering with Districts: Problems Encountered, Lessons Learned
This paper examines the accomplishments of the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) district research partners. Informed by 2 years of collaborative experience, the report documents the process McREL used in selecting partner sites and guides future field-based research partnerships by discussing problems encountered and lessons learned regarding the establishment and maintenance of research partnerships. The ultimate goal of establishing the McREL district research partnerships was to explore collaborative-action research as a viable strategy for promoting systemic reform that leads to sustainable, improved achievement for all learners. The report outlines the selection of sites, the establishment of design teams, the design and process of research, and the evaluation of partnerships. The document concludes that collaborative partnerships can be used to move research findings into the field more quickly under the right conditions. Partnering, however, is a complex process and requires both partners to redefine their roles and usual work methods to accommodate a collaborative approach that involves individuals from different professional cultures. More sensitive methods, both for assessing a district's capacity for partnering and for creating a model that depicts the evolving nature of district-McREL partnerships, need to be developed. An annotated interview guide and interview summary assessment compose the bulk of the document.
The research relationship in community research: An inside view from public school principals
American Journal of Community Psychology, 1981
When social scientists pursue their research in community settings, research relationships are created which may lead to problems and conflict between the outside researcher and those inside the community. A better understanding of the inside view of the community research relationship was sought from 24 public elementary, middle, and high school principals who were interviewed about their previous experiences with research, their attitudes toward research and researchers in their schools, and their thoughts on the usefulness o f research in the future. Responses to the interview revealed important points o f convergence and divergence among principals" views, and called some commonsense notions about community research into question. The past problems and present concerns principals expressed about entering into research relationships are discussed in terms of three concepts: conflicting institutional missions and roles o f school principals and university researchers; issues o f power and control in the structure o f the research relationship; and the quid pro quo in the research contract.
Conceptualizing a Foundation to Lead a School–University Research Partnership
International Journal for Leadership in Learning
Research within schools has taken place for decades, yet longstanding skepticism between researchers and practitioners has resulted in hesitation to work together to develop research partnerships. Two school-based leaders and one university researcher sought to conceptualize a foundation for their school–university research partnership. During the initial stages of the partnership development, terminology and interpretation of language used to describe research in schools emerged as both an area of concern and an opportunity for exploration. The partners recognized a need to revise their lexicon from terms that implied teachers needed assistance fixing “problems of practice” to terms promoting an approach embracing innovation and a strengths-based practice in schools. Through an action research approach, the authors draw on their meeting notes, reflections, and documentation to describe the process they used to develop a research-partnership model. Results from this inquiry explicat...
Research Partnerships at the State Level: Bridging the Academic-Practitioner Divide
State and Local Government Review, 2014
This article examines the factors that influence academic-practitioner research partnerships at the state level. The state longitudinal data system (SLDS) offers the capacity to link client-level data across multiple state agencies, providing an unparalleled opportunity to facilitate data informed decision making across PreK-20 educational and workforce agencies. Analysis of sixty-nine qualitative interviews with agency administrators and university researchers in four SLDS states (Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and Washington) suggests that understanding organizational culture, combined with formal and informal factors, influences the quality and likely long-term sustainability of these efforts. Fostering effective partnerships is fundamental to advancing public-sector, data-driven decision making.
2010
Continued calls for greater accountability in the PK-12 U.S. schools have placed increased demands and accountability upon universities to help schools meet state and federal student achievement requirements. This is evidence of a trend that is here to stay and will have profound effects on postsecondary education . This trend amplifies the need to better understand how to effectively plan for, create and maintain university-school district partnerships. These partnerships also offer significant promise for simultaneous educational renewal in both PK-12 and higher education . Based upon a number of partnership efforts with public schools dating back to 2004, we suggest four key pillars necessary for successful partnerships: 1) the need to take a developmental view and recognize that change, understanding of new structures, and deep engagement take time to develop and transfer to generalizable teaching and leadership practices; 2) the need to find balance between theory and practice; 3) the need to develop clear shared goals and maintain an effective communication system to keep these goals central; and 4) the need to develop and support the instructionally focused leadership practices required to shepherd in a new normative structure. We suggest that these four pillars are critical to effective planning of university-school district partnerships.