Reflections From a Professional Learning Community for Researchers Working in Research Alliances

One promising pathway to bridge the disconnect between research and practice in education is to form research alliances. Research alliances involve researchers and practitioners as collaborators throughout the research process, from the initial design of the work through the interpretation of findings. A professional learning community helped REL Midwest researchers address challenges that came with this shift in the researcher’s role and work processes.

This report describes the lessons learned about the common challenges that REL Midwest researchers brought to the professional learning community, the strategies they identified to address the challenges, and the tools they used to overcome the challenges.