Belonging to a research-practice partnership: Lessons from 15 think-pieces about the COVID-19 pandemic and a call for action

Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) in education have been gaining increasing currency and support since well before the advent of COVID-19. This article reflects on what the pandemic experience has meant for some RPPs so far, and imagines what other RPPs might look like in the near future. The authors share a collection of fifteen think-pieces written by individuals working in or around, or funding RPPs during the COVID crisis. These contributions include reflections on how the pandemic affected existing RPPs and how teams responded to the disruptions, how the larger context in which RPPs operate matters, as well as how RPPs can help us build a more just and united society. The authors identify lessons to be drawn from across these think-pieces and implications for the field, and close with a call for action about learning scientists’ possibilities for belonging to RPPs. Through a somewhat unconventional form of scholarship, this article intends to spark and enrich conversations about tensions and choices facing RPPs and learning sciences scholarship broadly in the coming years.