This month, PEER hosted our inaugural research symposium. More than 70 leaders including Vanderbilt faculty, MNPS staff, and MNPS board members came together to learn about the research happening across PEER’s Working Groups and rapid response studies through study-specific poster displays and a series of panel discussions. 

Key Panel Insights

The panel discussions especially illuminated key insights about engaging in partnership research. 

PEER’s Working Group model is unique and aids in effective co-development of research plans. With strong norming and facilitation during the launch of Working Groups, dynamic meeting structures and agendas, and an understanding that it is highly relational work, research plans can be co-constructed to be actionable for the district and add to the scholarly research literature.  

PEER’s rapid response study process benefits from having specific research questions and a team of researchers with varied expertise. This helps focus the work so that it can be completed within the short timeline and on a small budget and produce highly actionable recommendations for MNPS teams. Teams of researchers with varied expertise also allows for more people to carve off chunks of the work where they fit in best. Rapid Response studies have generated strong interest in follow-up studies, and PEER is exploring paths to support ongoing research.  

Bringing in multiple perspectives is crucial for centering equity in research design. Having diverse expertise at the table, including stakeholders who will be impacted by and use the research, helps ensure that the research design and power dynamics within the group evolve with equity principles in mind. 

We are excited to welcome Erin Henrick to the PEER team! Erin is a senior lecturer in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College and has been participating in PEER's Postsecondary Readiness Working Group since January. In service of her professional mission to improve the lives of students, Erin has also served as a high school teacher, middle school administrator, university instructor, and educational researcher and evaluator. Visit PEER's website to learn more about Erin!

Thank you, Marcy!

As we say goodbye to Marcy Singer-Gabella, one of PEER's founding co-directors, we want to express deep gratitude for her leadership in helping PEER get off the ground and for continuously working to make PEER into a flourishing partnership. Under Marcy's leadership, PEER successfully launched four cross-institutional Working Groups and three rapid response studies, all of which are working to inform MNPS' signature initiatives. We wish Marcy all the best as she transitions into her new role as the COO of the Leadership Policy Institute!

In May, PEER convened its third EPSO community advisory panel meeting to inform the work of the Institutional Challenge Grant. The panel includes current and former MNPS students, family members of students who attend MNPS schools, MNPS educators, and community leaders.

During the meeting, panel members reviewed the progress of the co-design teams formed in three MNPS high schools to improve student equity and outcomes in their early postsecondary course opportunities. Co-design is a collaborative process in which the school-based teams use data and evidence to develop, implement, assess, and revise practice and policy. The three teams are currently working to identify areas to revise practice for the upcoming school year.