Summative Evaluation of the Research+Practice Collaboratory: Final Report

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Research+Practice Collaboratory in 2012 to develop strategies for (1) making educational research more usable for educators, and (2) helping educators and researchers productively collaborate to advance research on educational effectiveness.

The Collaboratory comprised four partnering teams. Three of these teams were researchpractice partnerships (RPPs) that functioned as demonstration sites or “local labs.” Together, they pursued a shared commitment to improving quality and equity in STEM education while respectively, they selected different focal issues: implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS); technology-based approaches in early mathematics learning; and connecting informal learning experiences with in-school STEM. The fourth team focused on generating tools and resources for RPPs. Together, the four teams developed and tested tools and approaches across contexts, developing an evidence base for the efficacy of RPP work, distilling generalizable principles, and articulating them for the field.

SRI International (SRI) was the Collaboratory’s summative evaluator, partnering with formative evaluator Inverness Research (Inverness). SRI’s evaluation examined the project’s superstructure—the strategy and outcomes of the four-team partnership—whereas Inverness primarily studied the four component teams. SRI’s evaluation questions were:

1. Regarding strategy: How do the design and function of the Collaboratory (including its focal themes and activities) collectively result in an innovative mechanism for productive engagements between research and practice?
2. Regarding outcomes: To what degree have Collaboratory processes and products been taken up and, (a) affected professional development efforts, models, practices among researchers and practitioners; and, (b) facilitated cultural exchange and transformation within the Collaboratory’s sphere of influence?