Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative Research for Educational Change
Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative Research for Educational Change supports researchers and practice partners in collaborative education research to improve policy and practice and address inequities.
Funder: Spencer Foundation
Due Dates: October 28, 2026, 12:00 PM Central/Chicago Time (Full proposal, by invitation) | Passed (Preproposal deadline)
Funding Amounts: Up to $400,000, including indirect costs, for up to three years
Summary: Supports collaborative education research partnerships that improve practice and policy and address educational inequities.
Key Information: Applicants must be existing research-practice partnerships with a history of fruitful long-term collaboration.
Description
The Spencer Foundation’s Research-Practice Partnership Grants Program supports education research conducted through collaborative, participatory partnerships among academic researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and communities. It funds new studies or expansions of ongoing research across methods and learning contexts, including schools, universities, community organizations, and informal learning settings. Partnerships are expected to foreground educational inequality and explain how their work will disrupt the reproduction and deepening of inequities.
Research must be central to each project. Complementary activities can strengthen research infrastructure, communicate findings, build relationships and trust, and develop partners’ capacity to use evidence in decision-making. The program also encourages training for graduate students and early-career scholars and practitioners. Its goal is to strengthen partnerships’ capacity for educational change while generating insights relevant beyond the immediate partnership setting.
