How Can Research-Practice Partnerships Advance Multilingual Learner Equity? A Case Study of Partnership with State-Education-Agency Leaders

ABSTRACT

Although multilingual learner (ML) students are present in nearly all K-12 settings, they tend to be served by schools and educators who are inadequately prepared to support them. While state education agency leaders may be well-positioned to address inequities in ML education, given their roles as policy intermediaries, their work is politically complex. Further, professional development support for state-level leaders has historically been limited. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) represent a promising avenue for addressing this absence in state leadership support, as RPPs aim to promote educational transformation through collaboration between researchers and practitioners. In our case, we posit that state-education-agency leaders’ engagement in a cross-state RPP has the potential to support enactment of transformative-leadership practices, specifically through opportunities to think and work with role-alike colleagues and external researchers. Drawing on qualitative case study methods, our findings reveal how ongoing RPP collaboration in small groups supported state leaders’ enactment of transformative approaches, such as developing a statewide framework for ML education and supporting district leaders with using ML-specific funds in equity- and evidence-based ways. Findings shed light on specific RPP activities that supported leaders’ collaboration, which may inform how future partnerships are facilitated to advance equity-focused change efforts.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to our state-leader partners for their time, thoughtfulness, and continued engagement in collaboration. We would also like to express gratitude for the support provided by the William T. Grant Foundation and Council of Chief State School Officers. Thank you also to the special issue editors and reviewers for their helpful feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Throughout this paper, we use the term “multilingual learner students” to refer to students described as “English learners” in federal policy. Federal policy defines English learners as students whose abilities to speak, read, write, or understand English, as demonstrated by their performance on a standardized English language proficiency assessment, may preclude them from successfully participating and achieving in classrooms where the language of instruction is English (ESSA, 2015). We—and the SEA leaders we collaborate with—prefer the term multilingual learner (ML) to foreground students’ linguistic assets.

² Referred to in this paper as “state education leaders” or “state leaders.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hayley Weddle

Hayley Weddle, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Education Policy at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research draws on qualitative methods to explore how education leaders implement policies in ways that enable or constrain equity. Across her work, Dr. Weddle is committed to developing reciprocal partnerships between educational leaders, policymakers, and researchers.

Megan Hopkins

Megan Hopkins, Ph.D., is a Professor of Education Studies at the University of California San Diego. Her research focuses on policy and leadership with a specific emphasis on the education of multilingual learner students in the K–12 education system.

Hannah Goldstein

Hannah Goldstein is a Doctoral Student in the Education Policy Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests concern policy implementation across state and local levels and the role of research-practice partnerships in driving equity-oriented systems change.