School districts as partners in research efforts

School districts are starting to realize that strong partnerships with local universities can play a role in developing a culture of data-driven and research-based decision making. That wasn’t the case some time ago. While there are solid reasons for working with external researchers, districts also have doubts that external researchers can provide useful and practical information that can guide continuous improvement processes.

At Jefferson County (Ky.) Public Schools (JCPS), we’ve learned that we can benefit from partnerships with universities and research laboratories if we have the right focus with researchers. Such collaborations can promote a data culture that will result in improvements in teaching practices and, ultimately, student outcomes.

We have learned from some wonderful research partnerships. Higher education institutions like the University of Louisville, Bellarmine University, Spalding University, University of Kentucky, Western Kentucky University, Vanderbilt University, and Harvard University have shown us that success comes from enabling (vs. preventing) conditions such as: