Boundary Spanning, Partnerships, and Educational Leadership: How a District-University Partnership Impacted Organizational Growth

Research practice partnerships (RPPs) are a specific type of partnership that fall within the broader category of district-university partnerships and drive change on a problem of practice. This paper focuses on the ways in which an RPP between a university and a PK-12 school district led to growth in both partnered organizations. We utilized a qualitative case study that leveraged the concept of the boundary infrastructure to inform how various aspects of the partnership bled into areas of the organizations. Data included observations of partnership meetings, partnership artifacts, semi-structured interviews with 11 partnership stakeholders, and a focus group conducted within the partnership’s coordinating council. We present three main findings through the lens of boundary infrastructure that demonstrate how the organizational growth occurred: research as a boundary practice, engagement with practitioners, and a flat power structure. The research process helped drive new endeavors within the district. Engagement with practitioners led to curricular changes at the university while also broadening the scope of faculty research agendas. Finally, creating a flat power structure for the partnership’s collaboration helped to include multiple voices in partnership processes. These three findings demonstrate ways in which RPPs may support organizational growth and provide insights for university and district leaders who are considering developing partnerships to drive change.