Research – Practice Partnerships

Learning How to Combine Our Strengths

In Spring of 2019, a series of meetings were held to discuss strengthening research-practice partnerships (RPPs) between AISD and University of Texas.  These meetings examined many different existing RPPs with school districts across the country (Stanford and San Francisco USD, Rice and Houston, UChicago and Chicago Public Schools, among others). 

In these discussions, models were compared and distinct UT Austin and AISD priorities were used to propose a new RPP model that would meet the needs of both organizations.  These meetings and subsequent reports can be used as a model for exploring university-school district partnerships around the country.

A Summary of the 2019 UT – AISD Learning Meetings on Research Practice Partnerships

Download Final Report | Handout Summary

The ultimate goal of building this relationship was to increase the creation and use of relevant research insights that benefit AISD students and their families.

The five key principles of a successful partnership identified during the meetings are:

1. Mission alignment – Research directly aligned to identified AISD priorities for benefitting kids and families in the district and also producing world-class scientific insights.
2. Speed of scientific innovation – Research set up to increase the rate of scientific innovations related to high-leverage problems of practice.
3. Rapid reporting – Establish robust feedback loops for research insights to return to the district in actionable ways that benefit AISD kids and families.
4. “Whole child” focus – Integrated education, health, and juvenile justice data systems along with innovative assessments of “hard to measure” factors absent from administrative data.
5. Rigorous attention to who gets to participate – Research conducted with an eye toward inclusion, rather than simply choosing readily-available school partners.

AISD’s Identified Needs	University of Texas’ Identified Needs
Streamline the process to approve research that meets priorities that is different from at-large requests.	Engage in scientific innovation
Reduce the burden of evaluating numerous proposals that need constant feedback and do not align to strategic priorities.	Establish clarity about AISD’s mission and priorities, so research could be more strongly aligned
Assist with formulating essential questions to research to ensure strategic priorities are the focus of the research.	Propose fast-track proposal review and data collection for research studies that are aligned with district priorities
Insulate research agenda and district focus from the day-to-day political distractions and seeming emergencies that can absorb capacity away from most important work.	Build efficient data sharing agreements.
Receive support in developing practices and strategies to close achievement gaps.	Provide opportunity for junior scholars to summarize and share research findings to practitioners
Form stronger networks with external partners, the community, and families.	Create opportunities to collaborate with teachers, school leaders, or district staff on relevant research.
Communicate within better feedback loops with all partners supporting the work.	Offer increased support of students who are submitting research studies to AISD.

Next Steps for a UT – AISD Research Practice Partnership

1. Build on the existing relationship and trust between AISD and the UT School of Education
2. Engage in a twelve-month launch process, led by the Dean of the College of Education
3. Allow AISD strategic priorities to guide researchers in building agenda
4. Align research agenda with UT priorities to obtain an institutional commitment from UT
5. Identify and develop “early-adopter” research institutes within UT that will provide the research expertise.

Conference Participants

Austin ISD

Jay Brown	Evaluation Analyst
Cinda Christian	Senior Research Associate
Lisa Goodnow	Associate Superintendent of Academics & SEL
David Kauffman	Executive Director, Multilingual Education
Mark Robinson	Principal, James Bowie High School
Jane Ross	Director, Child Study System/MTSS
Kevin Schwartz	Chief Technology Officer for Learning & Systems
Arati Singh	Trustee, At-Large
Tracy Spinner	Director of Health Services
Michelle Wallis	Executive Director, Office of Innovation & Development
Holly Williams	Director, Department of Research & Evaluation

The University of Texas at Austin

Germaine Awad	Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology
Sarah Kate Bearman	Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Psychology
Robert Crosnoe	Professor and Chair of Sociology
Cynthia Franklin	Associate Dean for Doctoral Education, Steve Hicks School of Social Work
Beth Gerlach	Adjunct Assistant Professor & Research Associate, Steve Hicks School of Social Work
Charles Martinez	Dean, College of Education
David Yeager	Associate Professor and Faculty Research Associate

Austin Area Foundations and Community Organizations

Betsy Abell	President – Buena Vista Foundation
Carmel Borders	President – Tapestry Foundation
Sue Carpenter	Chief Programs Officer – United Way for Greater Austin
Kelty Garbee	Director, Programs – Educate Texas
Samantha Halloran	Board of Directors – Tapestry Foundation
Kim McPherson	St. David’s Foundation
Jeanne Klein	Co-founder, Jeanne and Michael Klein Foundation
Melanie Mullan	Strategic Advisor – Tapestry, Buena Vista, and Jeanne and Michael Klein Foundations

Other Collaborators

Grant Gottesman	Board Member – Gottesman Foundation
Alicia Grunow	Co-founder and Improvement Specialist – Improvement Collective
Elaine Allensworth	Director of the UChicago Consortium – University of Chicago
Jon Krosnick	Professor in Humanities and Social Science – Stanford University
Ruth Lopez Turley	Houston Education Research Consortium Director – Rice University
Todd Rogers	Professor of Public Policy – Harvard University
Sean Talamas	Chief Operations Officer – Character Lab
Laura Wentworth	Director of the Stanford – SFUSD Partnership – CAED Partners