There is meaning in establishing a partnership. For researchers and educators, this is significant. In traditional circles, the notion of conducting research is viewed as an academic exercise where a problem is identified, a methodology is proposed to address the problem, and evidence is presented considering specific outcomes. These siloed spaces existing between researchers and practitioners have presented challenges in education. As a state agency, our task was to examine how we could undo these patterns and transform how we work with university partnerships. Through these partnerships, our focus was to leverage actionable findings that were more meaningful for districts and constituencies in the educational field. Through this year-long journey, four UNC-system research institutions partnered with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to evaluate the impact and implementation of summer learning programs across various regions in the state.
Out of the four research institutions involved in this work the two cases highlighted in this Research and Recovery Whitepaper share their insights into the qualitative research studies conducted in North Carolina on the summer learning programs. These partnerships created another platform to exchange ideas regarding the lessons learned about summer learning opportunities and examine the implementation challenges that contributed to the knowledge of practitioners and researchers within their respective fields. The focus of this Research and Recovery White Paper leverages the context of the research-practice partnership(s) and the overall impact of these types of programs across our state. Each research team has shared its unique perspective of its partnerships (non-profit organizations and community learning exchanges).
East Carolina University Rural Education Institute researchers partnered with three Eastern North Carolina school districts and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration to conduct a multi-case qualitative study around summer learning opportunities post-pandemic. An interdisciplinary team of researchers developed semi-structured, qualitative interview protocols, demographic surveys, and photo-elicitation prompts with school district partners during the research design phase in a research-practitioner partnership. The findings signify areas of attention that should be given to the overall summer program structure within rural contexts, including student and staff recruitment, engaged curricula across PK-12 levels, and involvement of community stakeholders and organizations for supplemental learning experiences.
~Dr. Robbie Quinn, ECU Faculty Research Partner