Differentiating Research-Practice Partnerships: Affordances, Constraints, Criteria, and Strategies for Achieving Success

Abstract Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) share a common overarching purpose of using research knowledge and techniques to improve practice. But their specific goals vary along three dimensions: purpose (a commitment to generating usable knowledge versus specific solutions), locus (work inside partner districts versus work from a distance), and audience (a focus on local versus broad impact). These dimensions define a three-dimensional space in which various RPPs can be located. We argue that RPPs located at different points in this space differ in their: a) affordances, b) constraints, c) criteria for success, and d) contributors to success. We illustrate these features for one problem-solving RPP that defines problems locally but with a commitment to designing for scale. We describe how that RPP worked locally to develop one solution—the Word Generation program—that has been widely adapted and adopted, offering hypotheses regarding the contributors to success that others might contest, confirm, or extend.

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