FINDING THEIR PLACE: HOW PRACTICE-SIDE LEADERS CAN PRESENT RPP WORK AT RESEARCH CONFERENCES

It’s that time of year again: research conference time! As many of us know, research conferences offer invaluable opportunities for sharing our work, hearing what others are working on, and connecting with new and old friends from near and far. Yet as research-practice partnerships (RPPs) –and other collaborative education research efforts among or involving practice-side leaders– think about presenting their work at research conferences, they often come up against the stark reality that research conferences are traditionally designed with only academic researchers in mind, typically those based at universities or working in research organizations or nonprofits. The culture, routines, and practices at research conferences are all generally built to serve the needs and motivations of those types of researchers. Of course, there are notable exceptions, like the University Council of Education Administration (UCEA) annual conference, which often has both researcher- and practice-side leaders attend and present their work.

As RPPs, our work is not only the result of traditional researchers’ efforts – practice-side leaders play a crucial role. We engage in joint work, and thus the best way to share our work at any conference is to do so jointly to both properly represent how our research came to be and also to offer practice-side leaders the same opportunity to connect, share, and find their place at research conferences. Those of us engaged in RPP work are hopeful that we will see the culture, routines, and practices at research conferences expand to explicitly make room for practice-side leaders; until then, we can find ways to support practice-side leaders in presenting or co-presenting RPP work in these spaces. The same is true for supporting practice-side leaders in presenting internal district work. Here, we explore some of those strategies, which also offer guidance for research conferences actively seeking to better support and include practice-side participants.

HEARING FROM RPP PARTICIPANTS ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES

Our insights come from two school district leaders and one university-based researcher who have co-presented research at an education research conference, specifically the American Education Research Association (AERA) annual conference. Two of these presentations shared RPP work, and one shared work resulting from a collaboration of two district departments. How did they develop and submit proposals? How did they prepare for the presentation? What was helpful once at the conference? 

This summary of what they learned is based on an online discussion hosted this month by the AERA’s Division H, whose members focus on research, evaluation, and assessment in schools. Membership in the division is a great mix of school district-based practitioners, university faculty and researchers, and researchers working in non-profit organizations, some of whom are part of RPPs. Below, we share insights from what each discussant shared about their work presented at an AERA conference, and their lessons learned about how to develop a proposal, submit the proposal, prepare for the conference, and make the most of presenting and attending the conference.

Why practice-side leaders might choose to present at research conferences. Before we dive into their AERA preparation and experience, let’s examine what these leaders shared about what the value of presenting at research conferences is for district leaders – especially given limited resources for conference and travel, why would district leaders prioritize practice-oriented conferences? Our school district leaders and university researcher shared that presenting at research conferences such as AERA offers visibility within a national research community, creates opportunities to engage directly with scholars and RPP leaders, and allows district voices to influence conversations that often shape policy, funding, and long-term collaboration. Having practice-side leaders participate in research conferences also shapes those conversations to focus more critically on how research is conducted, for/with whom, and for what purpose. Many education leaders are motivated to be research-based in their respective roles, making it another source of professional learning. Although travel and conference costs can be a barrier, participation enables practice-side leaders to share implementation realities, receive feedback from research-side leaders and peers, and strengthen long-term research-practice partnerships. Even when colleagues cannot attend, presenters can share their presentations locally and gather education leaders' feedback to extend the value of conference participation.

On the other hand, they acknowledged that AERA may not be the ideal venue for all partnerships or joint presentations. Some partnerships may choose to alternate attending a research conference one year and a practice conference the next, as a different engagement strategy.  

How practice-side leaders might want to configure their proposals. In Table 1 below, we briefly show how our three leaders configured their proposals, illustrating the diversity across their presentations: As seen in the table, they presented with different colleagues or partners, on different topics, in various sub-sections of the conference (e.g., Divisions or Special Interest Groups–SIGs–at AERA), and in different formats.

Table 1: Three presentations involving practice-side leaders, presented at AERA.

ADVICE FOR PRACTICE-SIDE LEADERS

In our online discussion, after providing this overview of their proposal configurations, these leaders shared four pieces of advice for other practice-side leaders planning to present or co-present at a research conference:

Plan for funding and time commitment barriers for practice-side leaders’ conference attendance. Finding strategies for accessing funding for practice-side leaders’ conference attendance can be tricky, but most often funding can be accessed through budgets procured by research grants housed at research partner organizations or less frequently, from school or district budgets. Either way, developing strategies for accessing funding is an important part of conference preparation, as is being aware of and clear about the time commitment required for preparing the proposal and presentation, as well as actually attending the conference. It might be helpful to explicitly state up front how much time practice-side leaders can commit to the process.

Submit your research to the “section” and the format in the conference that aligns best with your work. All research conferences have subsections focused on different topics, some of which are led by researchers with certain expertise. The subsection topic and the expertise of the leaders and members will influence the proposal review process, and what topics and types of research are accepted Finding the best fit here will help your proposal find an appropriate outlet to contribute to a positive, mutually beneficial experience whereby attendees are interested in and can learn from your session and you can learn from other sessions in the same subsection.

Invest time in preparing for the presentation with your collaborators. Who is working on the presentation slides? How much information should be presented? Who is doing the speaking? Spend time making sure you know your data and the analysis was ready for presentation. One way to prepare is to rehearse your presentation. It is also helpful for teams to make sure their methods and findings are written up into a white paper for easy reference. An added benefit is that the act of processing the findings to present together can provide for another layer of joint sense-making.

Decide what social circle or networks you want to connect with at the conference. There are a lot of optional activities at conferences, and practice-side leaders can find a “group” focused on their topic of interest that will feel like a home for them. Some research conferences have “role-alike” meet ups. We encourage practice-side leaders to find these structures defined by role or topics in the program, and plan to engage in those activities, to get the most out of and truly benefit from your conference experience.

IN CONCLUSION

We hope these insights can be helpful for RPPs, districts, and other collaborative education research efforts thinking about their practice-side leaders presenting or co-presenting at traditionally structured research conferences by illustrating the value, learning opportunities, and some logistical considerations of such efforts. We acknowledge that presenting about some collaborative research might require even more careful planning and may fit less neatly into already existing conference subsections; for example, we had a question come up in the Q&A portion of our online discussion about planning for an off-site AERA presentation at a location meaningful to the research project but requiring extra travel time. In such cases, tapping into existing structures becomes especially important – in the case of AERA, partnering with a Special Interest Group (SIG) that aligns closely with the focus and purpose of the place-based experience will be extremely beneficial – as is transportation planning and plenty of communication.

As the RPP field continues to grow, we hope that those traditional research conferences that can benefit from showcasing RPP work and have the potential to meaningfully connect all RPP participants can evolve to create a place for practice-side leaders that serves their needs, motivations, and circumstances, making it easier for them to participate in sharing the research they are so deeply involved in.

Laura Wentworth is Director of the Research-Practice Partnership Program and Director of the Stanford-SFUSD Partnership at California Education Partners, Allison Firestone is Education Policy Analyst at San Francisco Unified School District, Jesus Renteria is Coordinator of Policy Research & Development at Los Angeles Unified School District, Kyo Yamashiro is Assistant Professor and Research Partnership Facilitator at Loyola Marymount University, Gabriel McCormick is Director of Partnerships & Outreach at Stanford University, Leslie Grant is Associate Professor of Education at College of William & Mary, Cynthia Ruiz is Director of Grants Administration at Loyola Marymount University, and Oluyemisi Ajoke Oloniyo is a PhD candidate at Washington State University.

Suggested citation: Wentworth, L.,  Firestone, A. R., Renteria, J., Yamashiro, K., McCormick, G., Grant, L., Ruiz, C., and Oloniyo, O.A. (2026). Finding Their Place: How Practice-Side Leaders Can Present RPP Work at Research Conferences. NNERPP Extra 8(2), 2-7.