
Research-Practice Partnerships in Education: Advancing an Evolutionary Logic of Systems Improvement
Author(s) -
William R. Penuel,
Erin Marie Furtak,
Caitlin C. Farrell
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
die deutsche schule
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2699-5379
pISSN - 0012-0731
DOI - 10.31244/dds.2021.01.05
Subject(s) - bridging (networking) , work (physics) , knowledge management , engineering ethics , computer science , sociology , mathematics education , data science , engineering , psychology , mechanical engineering , computer network
Over the past several decades, scholars have proposed a number of innovative approaches to bridging the research-practice divide. A relatively new approach involves the formation of research-practice partnerships (RPPs), long-term collaborations aimed at educational improvement and transformation through engagement with research, intentionally organized to connect diverse forms of expertise and to ensure that all partners have a say in the joint work. Th is paper develops the idea that RPPs have the potential to create sustainable change, if they are able to support the mutual learning of partners to change practice while continuously adapting to turbulent environments of schools. As an illustration, the paper describes the evolution of an RPP in Colorado (U.S.A.) from a relatively small group of people representing a university and school district focused on a single line of research to an ongoing enterprise linking multiple researchers and educators to multiple lines of work to transform science teaching and learning in the district.