Chapter 16: Ensuring Success For Research–Practice Partnerships: Strategies and Conditions

Research–practice partnerships (RPPs) between universities and schools or other educational organizations have become an important enabler for school improvement (Arce-Trigatti et al., 2018). RPPs focus on building the capacity of practitioners to solve their own equity challenges, rather than implement externally driven solutions. These partnerships are envisioned as true collaborations between researchers and practitioners to create local solutions for sustained educational improvement. As Coburn and colleagues (2021) note, “Research–practice partnerships are long-term, systematic efforts to improve schools and school systems through research” (p. 15). RPPs are also seen as an opportunity to bridge the chasm between research and practice, bringing practice-relevance to research and providing practitioners with access to research. However, in their overview of RPPs, Coburn and colleagues (2021) argue that most studies on RPPs still focus on the challenges associated with them, and few provide positive results and strategies to create successful partnerships (for an exception, see Penuel & Gallagher, 2017). We thus have to further our understanding of strategies for success of such partnerships (Baumfield & Butterworth, 2007; Coburn & Penuel, 2016).