The National Education Research–Practice Partnerships Network (NERPP) will support partnerships by focusing on four primary objectives. The first objective is to develop and share best partnership practices, with an emphasis on setting up research–practice partnerships (RPPs), producing more relevant research for districts, and improving the use of research evidence by districts. Partnership practices will be shared at annual meetings and through online tools such as the William T. Grant Foundation microsite. NERPP will also establish an oversight committee to ensure that districts and research institutions are equally represented in NERPP activities and that they have equal power in decision making. The second objective is to synthesize and share research findings and research-informed practices obtained from individual RPPs across the network. Findings will be synthesized and distributed in an annual report and discussed at annual meetings of research and practice partners. The third objective is to produce comparative research across localities. Using the information gathered from different RPPs, NERPP staff will identify common research interests across partnerships and assist partnerships in developing collaborative research projects. Promising initial projects include research on school closures, chronic absenteeism, and improved outcomes for English language learners. The joint projects will maximize comparability across research sites, while preserving local research needs. The fourth and longer-term objective is to advance education policies and system reforms at regional and national levels.
This grant will support the creation of a formal national network for existing and emerging research–practice partnerships in order to improve the connection between research, policy, and practice in education.
