Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are an increasingly common approach for producing research evidence that is useful to practice, but studies have too rarely considered the racial dynamics within these partnerships and the ways in which they can address racial equity goals in education. Ahn and colleagues will use a comparative case study of two partnerships to examine how they use research evidence to frame their goals around racial equity and how they conduct and use research evidence toward anti-racist ends. The study will include four working groups within two mature research-practice partnerships in California. Data will be gathered from observations and workgroup transcripts, interviews, reflection journals, and artifacts. The team will employ interaction analysis to examine whether and how participants’ perceptions, words, and actions in the partnerships reflect anti-racist use of research evidence and how participants’ perceptions, words, and actions may shift as the workgroups consider evidence that demonstrates racism in their schools. Investigators will also note whether the partnership prioritizes counter-narrative evidence and asset-based perspectives, attends to socio-historical contexts and intersectional identities, and connects reflection within the partnership to action in district decision-making.
How can research-practice partnerships use research in ways that forward anti-racism understanding and action within K-12 schools?
