Research-Practice Partnerships: Linking Policy, Practice, and Research for Equity

Education researchers and policymakers alike have long lamented the gap that exists between research and practice. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are one potential way to address these gaps, but unless they attend to systemic inequities in education and research, they risk perpetuating the inequities. The focus of this chapter is on long-term collaborations between research and practice that are specifically organized to address different aspects of equity and justice in education, that is, partnerships that share a commitment to addressing power imbalances between research and practice, through giving a say to all partners in the purposes and strategies of joint work in partnership and amplifying the voices and knowledge of those most directly impacted by different forms of oppression. In addition to defining common features of equity-focused RPPs, the chapter traces the plural origins of RPPs and their conceptions of equity; presents examples of equity-focused RPPs; and presents a framework for studying and evaluating the processes and outcomes of equity-focused RPPs. Finally, the chapter presents proposals for the kinds of infrastructures needed to support equity-focused RPPs.

Keywords: equity, research-practice partnerships, partnership development