September 2024

This post was guest authored by the Research Alliance’s Research Director, Dr. Kathryn Hill. 

In the last two posts in this series, Cheri Fanscali discussed our strategic priorities to improve evidence use and reimagine how we embed equity throughout our work at the Research Alliance. In this post, I will dive deeper into our efforts to more meaningfully involve communities most impacted by education policies–including teachers and other school staff, parents and students–in our research. We believe that community engagement is foundational to both equity-centered research and increasing the use of research evidence.

From the beginning, the Research Alliance has been committed to meaningful collaboration with education stakeholders, particularly those positioned to influence policy and practice in the district. Stakeholder input throughout all phases of our work–from deciding what topics to study, to interpreting and sharing findings–helps us ensure that our research is relevant, actionable, and ultimately, useful to others. Going forward, we are committed to expanding this group of engaged stakeholders, so that our work is more responsive to the interests and needs of those involved in the day-to-day work of schools.

To that end, we are collaborating with community-based and youth-serving organizations–such as DegreesNYC and the Student Success Network–and educator communities of practice–as in the Exploring Equity in Computer Science Ingenuity Team–to shape our research agenda and develop new projects. We are also finding ways to ensure that community engagement is a core part of our ongoing studies–from including young people, teachers and parents as project advisors, to actually conducting research alongside these stakeholders. A fundamental tenet underlying our community engagement work is that the research process should be mutually beneficial for everyone. This means that we compensate community members for their time whenever possible, pursue lines of inquiry that reflect their needs (e.g., to inform or improve practice or support advocacy efforts) and help them build capacity to conduct research and interpret and use research evidence. Below I highlight some current projects where we have been able to engage students, teachers and parents in meaningful ways.

Identifying Strong Transfer Pathways: A Case Study of John Jay's CUNY Justice Academy Program

This project is focused on learning how John Jay–which has been recognized for its strong transfer student outcomes–supports its transfer students, through policies, teaching practices, and program culture. A key component of this project is the engagement of students in executing and communicating about the research. We partnered with #DegreesNYC and John Jay to recruit CUNY undergraduates to be part of the study team. Following training in qualitative data collection and analysis methods conducted by our staff, the students co-created protocols and joined us in conducting interviews with John Jay transfer students. We are currently working together to analyze our interview data and interpret our findings to share with others. The students have helped ensure that our case study is authentically learning from students’ perspectives and experiences.

Beyond Access and Participation in CS4All: Measuring Equitable CS Learning Environments

In this study, we are developing and testing measures of culturally responsive-sustaining education (CR-SE) in computer science—providing vital tools and evidence to inform the growing CS education field. Central to our project is the genuine engagement of communities directly affected by this research. With the help of NYCPS’ Exploring Equity in Computer Science Ingenuity Team, we convened working groups consisting of teachers, students, and parents at key junctures. Early in the project, we sought feedback from our working group on our research questions and methods, to ensure they reflect the values of—and are meaningful to—the students, parents, and educators who are the center of the work. In subsequent meetings, we gathered input on the newly developed instruments to ensure they reflect outcomes deemed important by the community, that data collection procedures are not too onerous, and that the survey and interview language was appropriate and accessible. Future meetings will involve sharing findings from our field tests and engaging the working group in interpreting data to guide improvements to the instruments. Additionally, we will collaborate closely with this group to broadly disseminate our results and promote use of the tools and evidence from the project.   

As we work to more actively engage school-based educators, students and families in our work, we welcome your suggestions, thoughts, guidance and opportunities for collaboration. What has worked well for you in engaging communities in the research process and ensuring that the experience is beneficial for everyone? Where are there opportunities to elevate student, parent and teacher voices and conduct research that speaks most directly to their needs? We recognize that while community-engaged research is increasingly valued in the field, the structures, policies and norms that undergird the larger research ecosystem–such as funder priorities, institutional review board processes, and traditional ways of reporting on research findings–are not always well aligned with these approaches. What challenges have you encountered in partnerships between researchers and community members, and how have you navigated these challenges?  

We’d love to hear from you! Reach out to us through LinkedIn, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), or email at research.alliance@nyu.edu.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Hill