C-PEER

The Center for Practice Engaged Education Research (C-PEER) is a network focused on re-imagining the relationship between researchers, educators, and community members to support schools and communities in improving their work on behalf of learners. We identify and investigate promising education practices to address challenging problems in education and to learn from promising research findings.

Our education research network matches educators and researchers with shared interests and complementary abilities to encourage collaboration on locally relevant research. We share results across the network in order to understand what works in education and to improve supports and outcomes for learners.

What Is “Practice Engaged Education Research?”

Practice Engaged Education Research represents a commitment to co-designing and conducting research and disseminating findings of research studies in ways that will be useful to improving educational practice and the policies that support it. The “PEER” portion of our name is important. It reflects our investment in a collaborative and productive relationship between educators and researchers. As peers, we work together to define problems of practice. Then, we implement quality “on the ground” research to create solutions for those problems.

We believe that practitioners have the will to do things differently in order to improve outcomes for all learners, and that those closest to learners and their contexts are in the best position to drive change in support of learners’ needs and strengths. Researchers (both faculty and students) at higher education institutions, as well as other research organizations, bring essential technical skill and deep knowledge to the table – but, they are often not well supported to develop and maintain relationships with classroom teachers, school leaders, and communities. C-PEER resources and supports will:

• Help educators and community members take a leading role in research – from defining the issues, to advising the useful dissemination of findings – without taking too much time from their core work with learners.
• Help researchers understand how to adapt their methods and participate with teams to ensure that research generates knowledge that is useful in local practice sites while also informing the field at large.