Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative Research for Educational Change
Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative Research for Educational Change supports researchers and education partners in collaborative research to improve learning, practice, and policy and address inequities.
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Funder: Spencer Foundation
Due Dates: July 10, 2026 (Preproposal) | October 28, 2026 (Full proposal, by invitation); both at 12:00 PM Central/Chicago Time
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 represent an existing research-practice partnership with a history of fruitful collaboration.
Description
The Spencer Foundation’s Research-Practice Partnership program supports collaborative, participatory education research involving academic researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and communities. It aims to build partnerships’ capacity to make educational change and generate insights into the processes, practices, and policies that improve learning. Projects must foreground educational inequality and explain how their work will disrupt the reproduction and deepening of inequities.
Research must be central, whether launching new studies or expanding ongoing work. The program welcomes varied methods and partnership arrangements, including design-based research teams, networked improvement communities, and place-based research alliances. Complementary activities can strengthen research infrastructure, communicate findings, build relationships, and develop partners’ capacity to use evidence. Learning settings may include schools, universities, community centers, parks, museums, and workplaces.
