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“Understanding the C-Side of the RPP”

Defined

At NNERPP, we have come to organize our conceptualization of RPPs into three “sides” representing the home organizations that typically participate in an RPP:

  • The “community-side” or “C-side” of the RPP generally refers to local, community-based organizations whose main purpose may be to support a wide range of community goals. At NNERPP, we have also considered students, families, and and other community members to be part of the “C-side” as well
  • The “Practice-Side” or “P-Side” includes organizations whose main purpose is to administer education
  • The “Research-Side” or “R-Side” includes organizations whose main purpose is to study education

 

Although there isn’t a “C” that is formally included in the “RPP” name, RPPs are increasingly partnering with community-side organizations as well, as community members are among those most directly affected by changes in education policy and practice. The RPP approach is of course only one form of collaborative research with community members – many other approaches exist that have much longer histories of working directly with community members, such as community-engaged research and participatory action research. RPPs are well positioned to partner with community organizations as well, recognizing that this kind of work must be done thoughtfully and take into account power and positionality – as is true for collaborative work with any partner.

Examples in NNERPP

Notes About the C-Side

How to do inclusive community work?

There are a number of additional resources for how to do inclusive community work. We list some of them below.

  • YDEKC Website: Youth Development Executives of King County: YDEKC connects, strengthens, and amplifies the leaders of youth-serving organizations across King County so that every young person has the opportunity and support to learn, lead, connect, contribute, and thrive. The website contains a number of learning resources for partnering well with community.
  • Chicago Beyond website: Chicago Beyond is an impact investor working to provide more equitable access and opportunity for Chicago youth by investing in organizations, community leaders, and equitable research opportunities that are positioned to positively impact the lives of young people in Chicago. Their guidebook “Why am I Always Being Researched?” is a terrific learning resource on positioning community organizations / voices as the experts they are.
  • University of Washington’s Equitable Parent–School Collaboration research project: UW researchers have partnered with schools, families and community organizations in South Seattle and South King County to develop a number of tools to foster authentic parent and family engagement.
  • Campus Compact Community-Engaged Research Knowledge Hub: This Knowledge Hub contains a curated listing of resources and readings related to the principles, design, methods, and practice for engaging in ethical and reciprocal community-engaged research.

 

How is NNERPP supporting partnership with community members?

We have offered several learning opportunities in recent years around community engagement in RPP work for NNERPP members and friends attending the NNERPP Annual Forum, our annual gathering of our partnerships, funders, and relevant policy and advocacy groups to come together and discuss challenges, successes, and opportunities related to education RPPs. For example, we have invited a number of NNERPP members and guest speakers who worked in or with community organizations to share their insights and resources for meaningful community engagement.

In another intentional effort to both support and learn from RPP efforts that include community members, we launched the “Student Voice 4 RPPs” Awards program in 2021, which recognizes, honors, and further supports existing RPP efforts that have a strong interest in and/or currently support youth involvement in RPP work. Through an application process, six NNERPP member RPPs were selected for awards of $7,500 for further developing, expanding, or strengthening their student involvement strategies. With this awards program, we hope to highlight and learn from how NNERPP member RPPs center youth voice in their work as they pursue democratization of evidence generation and use.