Research-to-Practice Partnerships

Research and practice too often operate on separate and parallel tracks. Scientists publish findings and practitioners are left to figure out implementation on their own. Research-to-practice partnerships close that gap by embedding researchers and practitioners in the same work, so evidence informs instruction and the realities of schools inform the research.

Nystrom Elementary is a Title 1 public school in Richmond, California — a place where the stakes of getting implementation right are high. Nystrom is in an ongoing Research-Practice Partnership with the SAiL Lab at MGH Institute of Health Professions, directed by Dr. Tiffany Hogan.

The SAiL Lab brings expertise in language, literacy, and implementation science. Nystrom brings the messy, real-world conditions in which that science has to work. The partners work together to build a school environment in which decision-making is grounded in scientific evidence — and it’s changing how the school sees its role, in public education and in science.