Research Practice Partnerships Learning Community

Annotated Bibliography

SELECTED RESOURCES ON RESEARCH-PRACTICE PARTNERSHIPS

Bryk A. S., Gomez L. M.Grunow A. (2010).Getting Ideas Into Action: Building Networked

Improvement Communities in Education. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of

Teaching:Stanford, CA.

In this paper, the authors introduce the idea of a networked improvement community where large networks can around complex problems to bring about remarkable change quickly. The paper details a set of structuring agents necessary for productive R&D to occur across such a community and discuss how this form of social organization might come into existence and sustain participation over time in order to advance real improvements for significant numbers of students.

Coburn, C.E., Penuel,W.R., & Geil, K.E. (2012). Research-Practice Partnerships at the District Level:

A New Strategy for Leveraging Research for Educational Improvement. A White Paper prepared for the William T. Grant Foundation.

This paper was commissioned by the W.T. Grant Foundation with the following goals: Define research-practice partnerships; Identify the major types of partnerships that operate at the district level; and Describe challenges partnerships face and strategies for addressing these challenges.

Donovan, M.S. (June, 2011). The SERP Approach to Research, Design, and Development. A paper written for the Design-based Implementation Research Workshop San Francisco, CA.

This paper outlines SERP’s approach to research practice partnership, including a description of their history, infrastructure, and theory of action.

The Research Partnership for New York City Schools. (2007). Inaugural Conference Report. Social Science Research Council: New York, NY.

This report describes the formation of the Research Partnerships for New York City Schools and its early goals and objectives as a research-practice partnership.

Penuel, W. R., Fishman, B. J., Cheng, B. H., and Sabelli, N. (October 2011). Organizing Research and Development at the Intersection of Learning, Implementation, and Design. Education Researcher.

This article describes elements of an approach to research anddevelopment called design-based implementation research. Theapproach represents an expansion of design research, which typicallyfocuses on classrooms, to include development and testing ofinnovations that foster alignment and coordination of supports for improving teaching and learning.

Roderick, M., Easton, J. & Bender Sebring, P. (2009). The Consortium on ChicagoSchool Research: A New Model For the Role of Research in Supporting Urban School Reform. Consortium on ChicagoSchool Research: Chicago, IL.

In this report, the authors argue that CCSR ’s focus on building capacity for school reformboth sets CCSR’s role apart from traditional approaches researchers have used to influencepolicy and practice and also represents a new model for conducting policy-relevant research.

Wentworth, L., & Khanna, R. (2011). Partnering around research to improve policy and practice: A case study of the Stanford University and San Francisco Unified School District Partnership.

This case study describes the partnership between Stanford University and San Francisco Unified School District and the structures and practices necessary to infuse research into the daily decision-making at the district level. The study describes the first year of development for the partnership.

SELECTED RESOURCES ON THE RESEARCH-PRACTICE CONNECTION

Coburn, C.E., Penuel, W.R., & Geil, K.E. (2012). Research-practice partnerships at the district level:
a new strategy for leveraging research for educational improvement. Presented at the Society for Research on Education Effectiveness annual meeting, Washington, D.C.

(session 4c)

This presentation was the introduction to a session at the 2012 SREE conference. The panel was focused on research practice partnerships and their potential opportunities and challenges. Michael Sorum of the Forth Worth Independent School District and the MIST partnership and Adina Lopatin of the New York City Schools and the Research Alliance for New York City Schools also presented on their specific partnerships. The panel was moderated by Vivian Tseng of the W.T. Grant Foundation.

Coburn, C. E., & Stein, M. K. Eds. (2010). Research and practice in education: Building alliances, bridging the divide. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD.

This book presents findings from a series of interlocking case studies of nationally visible R&D projects, with a unique focus on how researchers and practitioners actually worked together, and the policy, social, and institutional processes that either enabled or hindered their work. The book investigates the dynamics of cross-institutional collaboration and the relationship between tool design, teacher learning, and the implementation of research-based approaches. It also explores conditions for learning in schools and the role of evidence in district decision making.

Cooper, L. (2007). Why closing the research–practice gap is critical to closing student achievement gaps. Theory into Practice, 46(4), 317–324.

This paper describes the research behind the formation of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) and explains how the group sees bridging the research/practice divide as critical to closing the student achievement gap in their districts. The article counters the idea that districts do not care about research.

Davies, H.T.O. & Nutley, S (2008). Learning More About How Research-Based Knowledge Gets Used. William T. Grant Foundation, New York, NY.

This paper is based on the authors’ 2007 book, Using Evidence. In this paper, Davies and Nutley provide a primer for those unfamiliar with prior work and conceptual frameworks for understanding the use of research in policy and practice. They also offer their thoughts on future work, arguing for increased understanding of the conceptual uses of research and how social processes and social contexts affect the use of research. Learning More About How Research-Based Knowledge Gets Used: Guidance in the Development of New Empirical Research.

Fleischman, S. (2006). Moving to evidence-based professional practice. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 87–90.

In this brief article, the author discussed how educators can more effectively bridge the gap between research and practice and “harness the power of scientific research” on behalf of the students they serve.

Honig, M. I., & Coburn, C.E. (2008). Evidence-based decision-making in school district central offices: Toward a policy and research agenda. Educational Policy, 22, 578-608.

The authors discuss their literature review of evidence use in decision-making in school district central offices. They discuss what prior work suggests about the ways evidence is used and the factors that affect evidence use.

The Research Alliance for New York City Schools. (2011). Learning from New York City’s portfolio strategy: How policy and practice can inform research.Summary of key themes. New York University,

New York, NY.

This paper summarizes a discussion that took place on November 18, 2010 and brought together stakeholders from across New York City to discuss the implementation and effectiveness of the city’s new portfolio strategy. The brief contains themes and implications for research.

Weiss, C.H. (1977). Research for Policy’s Sake: The Enlightenment Function of Social Research. Policy Analysis, 3, 531-545.

Weiss has authored a substantial body of work that has laid the theoretical ground for understanding the conceptual use of research. In this paper, Weiss discusses the enlightenment function of research and challenges the notion that research use in policy-making is a rational linear process.

Forum for Youth Investment, November, 2012

Note: Consider this a living document. Please submit additional articles you feel will be of interest to the group to Elizabeth Devaney at