“Stretching Research Legs”: Developing Practitioner-Scholars Through Engagement in Research-Practice Partnerships

ABSTRACT

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are one potential strategy to support educational transformation or improvement, and this focus inherently requires new ways of working for both practitioners and researchers. This paper seeks to understand how RPP engagement within an EdD program supported the development of practitioner-scholars through a case study of the Multnomah County Partnership for Education Research (MCPER). The study describes the perceptions of 67 practitioner-scholars from eight different doctoral cohorts and how the RPP impacted them in terms of building capacity, serving the local community, and enhancing their identity as a researcher: 89% of respondents reported learning valuable information, 79% described how the information learned was relevant to their professional lives, and 87% said completing the report developed their identity as a researcher. The practitioner-scholars also largely noted that completing a report improved their capacity to conduct data analysis (86% agreed), write a program evaluation report (84% agreed), and write a literature review (80% agreed). In terms of how participating in the RPP helped the practitioner-scholars, qualitative coding revealed participating in the project was a “real-world,” “boots on the ground” process that involved “serving the greater good” and built their confidence as a researcher. Engagement with the Multnomah County Partnership for Education Research (MCPER) is one strategy to support practitioners to develop these practitioner-scholar capacities.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to (a) then undergraduate, now amazing high school teacher Rachel Blakely, who helped with this project at the very beginning; (b) the amazing nonprofit organization NWEA and their generous funding: without them, none of this would be possible; and (c) the awesome reflective practitioner-scholars who not only met the needs of the districts but also took the time to participate in this research study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Ralston

Nicole Ralston is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Washington, and now teaches primarily educational research courses. An elementary school teacher at heart, she loves supervising elementary student teachers and supporting local school districts by being the Codirector of the Multnomah County Partnership for Education Research (MCPER).

Jacqueline Waggoner

Jacqueline Waggoner is a tenured Professor in the School of Education at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon. She received her bi-university Ed.D. from the University of Oregon and Portland State University in Public School Administration and Supervision and has worked in higher education and public P-12 education for over 25 years. Research areas are teacher education, measurement, instrumentation; assessment; and data-driven decision-making.