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.
www.carnegiefoundation.org/sites/default/files/bryk-gomez_building-nics-education.pdf
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. (2013). Generating Improvement Through Research and Development in Education
Systems. Science. 340: 317-319.
This article talks about the need to shift our approach to addressing problems in education so that
research is shaped around a problem of practice.
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.
www.ssrc.org/workspace/uploads/docs/InauguralConferenceReport.pdf
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.
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 devaneye@gmail.com
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.
www.faculty.umb.edu/pjt/penuel11.pdf
This article describes elements of an approach to research and development called design-based
implementation research. The approach represents an expansion of design research, which typically
focuses on classrooms, to include development and testing of innovations that foster alignment and
coordination of supports for improving teaching and learning.
Roderick, M., Easton, J. & Bender Sebring, P. (2009). The Consortium on Chicago School Research: A
New Model For the Role of Research in Supporting Urban School Reform. Consortium on Chicago
School Research: Chicago, IL.
http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/ccsr-new-model-role-research-supporting-urban-school-reform
In this report, the authors argue that CCSR ’s focus on building capacity for school reform both sets
CCSR’s role apart from traditional approaches researchers have used to influence policy 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 decisionmaking 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.
https://www.sree.org/conferences/2012f/program/ (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.
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 devaneye@gmail.com
Cooper, L. (2007). Why closing the research–practice gap is critical to closing student achievement
gaps. Theory into Practice, 46(4), 317–324.
http://donnaelder.wiki.westga.edu/file/detail/Why+Closing+the+Research+Practice+Gap+is+Critical
+to+Closing+Student+Achievement+Gaps.pdf
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.
http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org/resources/studying-the-use-of-research-evidence
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.
www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar06/vol63/num06/Moving_to_EvidenceBased_Professional_Practice.aspx
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.
http://epx.sagepub.com/content/22/4/578.abstract
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.
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/media/users/jnw216/RANYCS/WebDocs/HS-Colloquium-FullPaper.pdf
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.
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 devaneye@gmail.com
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 devaneye@gmail.com