As spaces for researchers and practitioners to engage in long-term, mutual collaborations aimed at addressing problems of practice in education, research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer rich contexts for research use. Our study examines how interactions between researchers and practitioners shape opportunities for research use in a professional association engaged in RPP activities focused on fostering change in statewide K–12 science education. Drawing on a conceptualization of RPPs as joint work at boundaries, we show how both researchers and practitioners facilitated research use. Furthermore, research use was facilitated by brokers’ engagement in RPP activities and with shared pieces of research. Findings affirm the role that brokers play in connecting research and practice and identify specific activities that may be useful in facilitating research use in RPPs.
With the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the oversight of language policy in U.S. schools shifted from federal to state governance. Although the education of students officially designated as English learners (ELs) has historically been grounded in federal law, we argue that ELs’ educational experiences are also largely influenced by societal attitudes toward immigrants and immigration. Using a critical policy analysis (CPA) approach, we examine how 12 states’ immigrant policy contexts are associated with the EL educational policies articulated in their ESSA implementation plans. We find that states’ demographic and immigrant policy contexts combine to produce four distinct approaches toward EL education, from departing to approaching equity.
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