Building the Infrastructure for Sustained Research-Practice Partnerships in Worcester

When administrators, teachers, and families engage together in meaningful STEM research, and students use innovative interventions and technologies in the classroom, everyone benefits. Research Practice Partnerships (RPP) between university researchers and school districts can facilitate the implementation of sustainable and impactful STEM education research, provide relevant and useful information and results to practitioners and families, and improve the quality of instruction provided to students. However, establishing those partnerships takes time. For RPPs to be successful, a shared mission, dedicated time, resources, relationships of trust, and systems and structures need to be put in place first. Through developing a common vision, framework, and RPP network that responds to key needs of members of the community, including researchers, teachers, administrators, and families, this Partnership Development project will enhance partnerships between academic research and K-12 schools, guide future research and development in innovation, and lead to greater participation and engagement by teachers in STEM research and technology as a part of their instructional practice in the future. This project supports the goals of NSF's DRK-12 program by catalyzing research that enhances all preK-12 teachers' and students' opportunities to engage in high-quality learning experiences in mathematics and by promoting collaborative partnerships among STEM education researchers, practitioners, school leaders, and families.

This project will develop a sustainable RPP model between the Worcester Public Schools (WPS) and the Learning Sciences Lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Together, WPI and WPS will build the collaborative infrastructure for conducting impactful STEM education research within WPS. Specifically, the RPP will establish and document shared infrastructural systematic processes and materials, brainstorm and facilitate research ideas that address pressing issues in mathematics education, and build a community of trust among researchers, administrators, teachers, and families to make future research and implementation, innovation, and collaboration more impactful, accessible, and efficient. Project activities include meetings with various stakeholders, focusing on three parallel efforts to develop a sustainable RPP: 1) systems and structures 2) continuous learning, and 3) collaborative processes (6 meetings for each of the three efforts). Members of the WPS community will work equally with the WPI research team to share ideas and perspectives and make progress on each aspect of the RPP pipeline, including the creation of processes and community-facing materials, and identifying relevant research questions and designs for future studies that can address real-world problems in mathematics education. Survey data and feedback will be collected after each meeting to identify benefits and challenges that can inform iterative revision to the RPP processes and ensure strong partnership development for the future.