ABSTRACT
We use the case of a research-practice partnership (RPP) project in an urban school district to show ways that equity in RPPs can be guided by practice. Main Unified School District sponsors an instructional coach network that connects 45 school-based coaches as they strive to eliminate achievement gaps. We describe how an RPP broker connected the coaching network director with a university researcher to study knowledge sharing in the network. Then we outline how the pair negotiated the needs of practice and research by taking a mixed-methods approach that included coach-led design-based implementation research. Their close collaboration is also evidenced in the leaders of this project jointly navigating the personnel constraints and political tensions heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, our chapter highlights how the researcher’s commitment to understanding the network’s existing conceptions of equity fostered relationships, generated academic insights, and centered the wisdom of practice. The coaching network project demonstrates ways deliberate partnership routines and diverse methodological approaches can level power relations in RPPs.
