Research-Practice Partnerships in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from The NYKids Equity in Education Collaborative

By, Kristen C. Wilcox, Maria I. Khan and Jessie Tobin

In the spring, it is now typical to see social media filled with posts highlighting events from three years ago – the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many posts reflect on how our lives were disrupted. In the following months, the COVID-19 pandemic not only exposed long-standing systematic health and social inequities, but later that year also became significant as American protests for racial justice and issues around equity, diversity and inclusion came to the forefront. Consequently, during 2020, many organizations, leaders and grassroots community members took it upon themselves to be champions of equity.

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) also undertook a new initiative called the COVID-19 and Equity in Education Research Practice Partnership Network to focus researchers and practicing professionals on addressing the differential impacts of the pandemic on youth, families, and communities and provide opportunities for sharing promising practices across the network.

A Brief Recap: NYKids Equity in Education Collaborative

In today’s blog, we introduce a brief summarizing and reflecting on the work that NYKids undertook with AIR and our partner schools Tech Valley High School and Chatham Central School District (CSD), which became the NYKids Equity in Education Collaborative.

Throughout the two-year-long partnership, there were monthly online meetings, occasional in-person gatherings, a continuous usage of improvement tools and research studies to help guide decisions to attain the shared aim:

We will address the barriers to learning and engagement for children, staff and community members through our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and mental health initiatives. 

Despite being dissimilar and having different structures, needs, demographics, communities and capabilities, the work conducted through this research practice partnership (RPP) assisted in the creation of an improvement infrastructure for TVHS and CSD as they addressed issues of equity. There is also sufficient evidence to conclude that the RPP structure promoted innovation and improvements for both TVHS and CSD.

Reflections on Research-Practice Partnerships from the Brief

• Take time to acknowledge power differentials, set norms, and reflect on roles and leadership styles in a partnership.
• Be conscious of whose voices are present, and whose are not, and why when engaging in an improvement initiative.
• Work from and through shared aims vs personal/political agendas to accelerate learning.

While this collaborative’s pandemic journey has concluded, we believe that this brief can offer valuable lessons for combatting educational inequities in the pandemic’s wake. We invite you to explore the brief here.

If you have questions or want to get involved in a partnership, please send us an email at nykids@albany.edu.