Grand Challenges: Racial and Social Justice Research-Practice Partnership Collaborative

Summary:

The Racial and Social Justice Research-Practice Partnership Collaborative (RSJC) will leverage the potential power of research-practice partnerships (RPP) to address one of the grand challenges of our time: deep, persistent educational inequities in learning opportunities and outcomes that disproportionately impact historically marginalized students. RPPs are centered on equity: 1) equity of the research outcomes, aimed at pushing research towards solving practical problems that our most marginalized communities face; and 2) equity of the research process, aimed at disrupting the traditional power dynamic between researchers (“experts”) and practitioners (passive recipients of the "experts"’ knowledge). As such, the RSJC will position researchers from across UMD to partner with local educational practitioners around the pressing challenges they face. Through a collaborative effort that spans the UMD College of Education, Office of Community Engagement, School of Public Policy, and local school districts, the RSJC will design and implement research-practice partnerships that tackle pressing problems of racial and social justice in our school communities; foster connections among UMD faculty and local practitioners; and build the capacity of UMD faculty and students to engage in impactful RPPs.

Leadership Team: