Reducing educational inequality through research-practice partnerships

Although researchers have done effective work at describing the inequities that plague schools, they have been less successful at making headway in addressing them, largely because their work remains disconnected from the schools that have to try to use the research. Through research-practice partnerships, researchers are able to stay in touch with the educators on the ground, craft research questions with their actual problems in mind, and help them take action in response to the research. Daniel Potter, Erin Baumgartner, and Ruth N. López Turley describe how, through the Houston Education Research Consortium, researchers from Rice University launched an equity project to uncover inequities within Houston-area schools and track their progress in addressing them. And, because of the ongoing relationship, they were able to launch a research project looking into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected students and produce results while schools where they were still relevant.