NSF Program Solicitation: CS for All + RPPs

The recent Computer Science for All (CS for All) program solicitation from the National Science Foundation focuses on the importance of researcher-practitioner partnerships (RPPs) in supporting computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) education. Specifically, the program solicitation states:

RPPs aim to strengthen the capacity of an organization to reliably produce valued CS and CT education outcomes for diverse groups of students, educated by different teachers from varied organizational contexts. The focus is on succeeding when implemented at scale. These studies have less prescriptive research designs and methods, with research occurring in rapid, iterative, and context-expanding cycles. They require deep engagement of researchers and practitioners during the collaborative research on problems of practice that are co-defined and of value to researchers and education agencies, for example, a school district or community of schools.

About Research-Practice Partnerships

For partnership development, we recommend that teams check out our Research-Practice Partnership Toolkit, as well as these resources:

• How to Negotiate the Collaborative Focus of a Research-Practice Partnership
• Building Equity in Research-Practice Partnerships
• Addressing Historical Inequities as Key to Equity-Oriented Education Improvement
• Producing Research that Leaders Will Use
• Working in the Near and Long Term: Operating Principles for Building and Sustaining Partnerships
• Case Study: Lessons Learned from a Rural Research-Practice Partnership
• Research-Practice Partnership Forum: Getting a Partnership Started (video)
• Research-Practice Partnership Forum: Defining the Focus of Partnership Work (video)

Resources for Proposal Development

For proposal development, we have assembled resources from the Research + Practice Collaboratory, LearnDBIR, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that are directly related to key goals of projects that may be proposed:

For projects studying implementation in the local context:

• Russell, J. L., Jackson, K., Krumm, A. E., & Frank, K. A. (2013). Theories and research methodologies for design-based implementation research: Examples from four cases. In B. J. Fishman, W. R. Penuel, A.-R. Allen, & B. H. Cheng (Eds.), Design-based implementation research: Theories, methods, and exemplars. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook (pp. 157-191). New York, NY: Teachers College Record.
• Case Study: Using Social Network Analysis to Study Implementation
• Social Resources for the Implementation of Ambitious Instructional Reform
• Science Teachers’ Collective Sensemaking: A Conceptual and Analytic Framework for Understanding Implementation

For projects employing rapid changes in implementation with short-cycle methods:

• A Framework for the Initiation of Networked Improvement Communities
• Rapid, Responsive Research: The 90-day Cycle Handbook

For projects capitalizing on variation in educational contexts to address the sources of variability in outcomes to understand what works, for whom, and under what conditions:

• Video Introduction to Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR)
• Developing a DBIR Research Plan

For projects addressing organizational structures and processes and their relation to innovation:

• Penuel, W. R. (2015, September). “Infrastructuring” as a Practice for Promoting Transformation and Equity in Design-Based Implementation Research. Paper presented at International Society for Design and Development in Education meeting, Boulder, CO.

For projects employing measurement of change ideas, key drivers, and outcomes to continuously test working theories and to learn whether specific changes actually produce improvement:

• Research-Practice Partnership Forum (Webinar): Measuring Impacts of Research-Practice Partnerships
• Yeager, D., Bryk, A. S., Muhich, J., Hausman, H., & Morales, L. (2013). Practical measurement. Palo Alto, CA: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
• Means, B., & Harris, C. J. (2013). Towards an evidence framework for Design-Based Implementation Research. In B. J. Fishman, W. R. Penuel, A.-R. Allen, & B. H. Cheng (Eds). Design-based implementation research. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook, 112(1), 350-371.
• Example: Measuring Student Responses to Project-Based Learning
• Example: Student Exit Cards in Elementary Science

For projects about reforming the system in which the approach is being implemented as opposed to overlaying a specific approach on an existing system:

• Case Study: How Social Networks Support and Constrain Reform

Upcoming CS for All Workshops

In addition, to support those seeking CS for All funding, we have been invited to host three workshops:

January 9-10, 2017: Atlanta, GA Apply to attend

January 12-13, 2017: Los Angeles, CA Apply to attend

January 27-28, 2017: Chicago, IL Apply to attend

At these workshops, participants will have the opportunity to learn strategies for:
+Identifying the focus of joint work in a partnership
+Engaging in collaborative design that includes researchers and educators on the team
+Conducting implementation research