Year 3

Our Efforts

Year 3 (2025–26)

The third year of the research-practice partnership will begin the deep dive into PK–12 spaces in which Black boys thrive. Using the findings from the exploratory phase, the research team will develop a plan for collecting and analyzing data to understand the characteristics, structures, functions, and features of PK–12 spaces in which Black boys thrive.

The research will likely include on-site data collection, such as observation, focus groups with current students, interviews with individuals, and questionnaires or surveys.

NNERPP Yearbook

This 2025 NNERPP Yearbook reflects the collective work, learning, and impact of the National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships (NNERPP) over the past year. As our annual end-of-year publication, it highlights the ways research-practice partnerships across the network collaborate to strengthen the relationship between education research, policy, and practice, and, ultimately, to improve educational experiences and outcomes for students and school communities.

Throughout these pages, NNERPP members share stories of tangible impact that demonstrate why RPP work continues to matter. These accounts showcase how partnerships translate research into action, respond to local needs, and co-create knowledge that supports more effective and equitable educational systems. Together, they offer both a window into the unique contributions of individual RPPs and a picture of our collective impact as a national learning community. As a network, we are able to learn, adapt, and do more together than any partnership could accomplish alone.

Housed at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, NNERPP is a professional learning organization dedicated to developing, supporting, and connecting education RPPs. Since its launch in 2016, NNERPP has pursued this mission by sharing promising partnership strategies, fostering cross-partnership collaboration, amplifying RPP-generated knowledge, and advancing policies and systems that enable meaningful research-practice collaboration.

The RSJC LAUNCHES THE PHOTO ELICITATION PROJECT

What does thriving look like through the eyes of Black boys? 📸✨

Through photo elicitation, the Black Boys and Thriving Project invites young people to document the places, activities, relationships, and moments that make them feel supported, affirmed, and joyful.

By centering participants’ own photos and stories, this arts-based research approach helps us listen more deeply, honor youth voice, and better understand the conditions that allow Black boys to thrive in schools, mentorship programs, and community spaces.

jANUARY 2026 BRIGHT SPOTS FORUM: Montgomery county public schools

The Racial & Social Justice Collaborative’s Bright Spots Forum was a powerful and affirming evening of learning and equity-centered practice. Held in January at the University of Maryland, the forum brought together justice-oriented educators from Montgomery County Public Schools and community partners to uplift promising school-based racial and social justice work. We met again in May to honor Prince George's County Public Schools!

Hosted by the University of Maryland’s Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement, the event created space for reflection, dialogue, and collective meaning-making rooted in shared commitments to equity. Through inspiring examples, we honored the labor of educators and the impact of community-centered partnerships. The opportunities for connection set the tone for an evening grounded in care and possibility.

The Bright Spots Forum reaffirms the importance of gathering to learn from one another and to recommit to equity-driven practice. The success of the event reflected not only the strength of the work being shared, but also the collective dedication to honoring our shared humanity!

May 2026 Bright Spots Forum: Prince George's County Public Schools

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