Education
Blueprint Labs is launching a Charter School Research Collaborative to centralize and expand actionable charter school research. This invite-only kickoff will bring together practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and funders to define a research agenda and foster new partnerships. Practitioners will highlight the research they need to inform policy and practice. Researchers will then interpret these open questions into a research agenda, and policymakers will share their perspective on how evidence produced through this collaborative can inform their decision making.
Attendees will exchange ideas about research questions of interest, how we can ensure diverse voices are included throughout the research process, and how to bridge the gap between research findings and policy impact.
The goals of this kickoff are threefold:
Registration
5:00 – 5:30 pm
Welcome
5:30 – 5:45 pm
Blueprint will outline the motivation and goals for the collaborative.
Pressing questions from the practitioner lens
5:45 – 6:45 pm
Guiding questions include: 1) What would you like to do but don’t have the data to support? Where could data or research enable you to generate better student outcomes? 2) Have you participated in research in the past? What was beneficial and what do you wish had gone differently? 3) What new practices or initiatives are you trying out that you think merit further study?
National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA)
Dinner and Fireside Chat
6:45 – 8:00 pm
Blueprint Labs Director Josh Angrist and Commissioner of Education Angélica Infante-Green will discuss recent policy changes in the charter sector in Rhode Island and how research can inform future decision making.
Rhode Island Department of Education
Breakfast
7:30 – 8:30 am
Welcome and Call to Order
8:30 – 8:45 am
Blueprint will recap the goals of the convening and a summary of the practitioner session on Day 1.
What we know about charter schools from lotteries
8:45 – 9:15 am
Susha Roy and Sarah Cohodes will share a review of lottery-based studies.
How can practitioners’ questions be shaped into a research agenda?
9:15 – 10:30 am
Having heard practitioners’ questions and white paper findings, researchers will begin to interpret open questions into a research agenda. Guiding questions: 1) Based on what you’ve heard from practitioners, what do you think are the highest priority topics to address? 2) What are other pressing topics that you think are worthy of study? 3) What kinds of study designs and methods can we use to address these questions? 4) What do you believe are the biggest barriers researchers will face in conducting this type of research? 5) Tell us about your experience conducting research on charter schools/school choice, or education more broadly. How can your work inform (or has it informed) policy? What are your approaches to and challenges in doing that?
Break
10:30 – 10:45 am
What questions are we missing in the state/federal landscape? A policymaker perspective.
10:45 – 11:30 am
Guiding questions: 1) How have you used (or how do you hope to use) research to inform policymaking? 2) Can you share about a time when you had to make a policy decision and go with your intuition because research was unavailable? How could research have been helpful? 3) What do you not know about the charter sector but would like to know? Thinking 3-5 years down the road, what questions do you think would be useful to have answers to (e.g., when reauthorization of ESEA occurs)? 4) What new initiatives do you have that you think are worthy of further study? 5) What barriers do you face to using and participating in research? 6) How can research help policymakers navigate the changing political landscape?
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
30 years of charters: the role of research
11:30 – 11:45 am
Richard Barth will share his reflections on the value, opportunities, and challenges of bridging research and practice.
Lunch
11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Crafting an inclusive research agenda
1:00 – 1:45 pm
Guiding questions: 1) How has your organization participated in research? What opportunities and challenges did that experience create? 2) How could research be helpful or useful to your communities? What would you like to do but don’t have the data to support? 3) Where could data or research enable you to generate better student outcomes? 4) Who do you believe are the main audiences this research should support?
Break
1:45 – 2:00 pm
Matchmaking and Networking
2:00 – 3:30 pm
Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers will have the opportunity to connect and discuss potential areas of collaboration.
Closing
3:30 – 4:00 pm
Karega Rausch will provide closing reflections.
National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA)
Event Organizer
The event is located at MIT Morris and Sophie Chang Bldg E52, 50 Memorial Drive, 7th Floor, Salon T, Cambridge, MA 02142.
We recommend entering through the entrance on Wadsworth Street. Input 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge into rideshare or walking directions. Upon arrival, enter the Morris and Sophie Chang Building E52 via the glass doorway with the light-up installation. Take the elevators to the 7th floor. If you enter via Memorial Drive, please also proceed to the elevator bank. When you arrive at the 7th floor, follow the signage to Salon T.
We recommend staying at the Marriott Cambridge. This is the closest hotel to the event venue, and we invite you to use MIT’s preferred discount rate: MT2 (enter this code under “corp/promo code”).
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